Care home and supported living equipment records, with the evidence ready when someone asks.

What you get

• Hoists and slings on a 6-month cycle

  Each hoist and each sling gets its own record and QR label, and a sling can sit under the hoist it is used with. An Every 6 months schedule counts in calendar months. Built-in templates cover the LOLER thorough examination of a patient hoist and of a patient sling. The examiner's next examination date prints on the LOLER report of thorough examination and becomes the item's next due date if it is earlier than your schedule's.

  Every plan, including the trial. UK statutory reports need your Regulations setting to be UK.

• The examiner's report on the right hoist

  Your examiner scans the hoist or sling they are examining, so the examination lands on that item's record and its history. A report from an examiner who works outside Hovermarks can be added as a certificate on that item, with the document stored and reminders 30, 14 and 1 day before it expires.

  Recording examinations: every plan. Certificate register: Professional.

• Beds and bed rails

  A built-in profile bed template covers the frame, profiling sections and actuators, the control box and handset lockout, a visual check of the mains lead and plug, castors and brakes, the CPR release, and the bed rails: secure fitting, gaps checked against the manufacturers' dimensions, and compatibility with the mattress in use. You set the interval from your own policy and the manufacturer's instructions.

  Every plan.

• A dated SERVICED label for medical equipment

  Tick one setting on a category, such as hoists, profiling beds or mattress pumps, and its labels add a line like "SERVICED 03/11/2026 · Next due 03/05/2027", as MHRA guidance describes. The line appears only when the item's latest inspection passed. Labels in every other category never show a next-due date, which is what HSE's guidance asks of PAT labels.

  Admins turn it on per category. Off until you tick it. Every plan.

• PAT sessions on a phone

  Small QR plug labels and cable flags, a PAT session that moves from one appliance to the next, a DO NOT USE label for anything that fails, or an import of the CSV file your PAT tester's software exports.

  Every plan. Contractor role and above.

• Fire equipment, fire doors and legionella logs

  Built-in templates for a monthly fire alarm check (BS 5839-1), a quarterly fire extinguisher service (BS 5306-3), a fire door check (certification label, gaps, seals, hinges and self-closer) and a fire risk assessment. For water, a weekly outlet flush and a monthly sentinel outlet temperature check (HSG274 Part 2), one record per outlet, plus a legionella risk assessment. Copy any template and edit it to suit your home.

  Every plan.

• Reminders on the due day and when overdue

  At 06:00 UTC the person assigned to a schedule gets an email listing what is due that day. From the next day, a daily overdue email lists what has been missed, and an in-app notification goes to them and to your Admins and Site Managers. The Dashboard shows the overdue count and list for each person's sites.

  Every plan. Reminders go to whoever is assigned on the schedule.

• Failed checks open defects, defects become work orders

  A failing answer on a question marked to raise a flag opens a defect and a corrective action when the inspection is submitted, and a failed inspection tells your Admins and Site Managers. A manager turns the defect into a work order in one click and can set the item to Out of service; completing the work order resolves the defect.

  Every plan. On Professional, automation rules can raise the work order for you.

• Your examiner and PAT tester work in your account

  Invite your LOLER examiner or PAT tester as a Contractor and tick the homes they work at. Their inspections are saved in your account and show as, for example, Sam Taylor (Example Lifting Ltd). On LOLER reports their company is named as the employer of the person making the report. They can't see your billing or the homes you didn't tick, and can't change your settings.

  If their own company is on a paid Hovermarks plan, their own licence covers the work, so they don't use one of your seats. Otherwise you assign one.

The evidence your regulator or insurer asks for

In England, regulation 15 of the Regulated Activities Regulations 2014 requires all equipment a registered provider uses to be clean, secure, suitable, properly used, properly maintained and appropriately located, and CQC’s guidance expects arrangements for its service, maintenance and replacement that meet current legislation and guidance and the manufacturer’s instructions. When CQC, your insurer or your own group asks how you know the hoist in room 7 is safe, the answer is a dated record. This is what sets each check, and what Hovermarks keeps for it. See CQC Regulation 15: what to keep on record.

CQC regulates health and adult social care in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own regulators: the Care Inspectorate, Care Inspectorate Wales and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA). The intervals are the sources’, not ours, and your competent person and your own policies decide what applies to your equipment.

Two kinds of label, for two kinds of equipment

MHRA and HSE give opposite advice on dates, and both are right for their equipment. MHRA’s Managing medical devices says a device going back into use should get a dated SERVICED label with the next service date, because clinical staff need to know when the next service is due. HSE’s HSG107 says a PAT label, if you use one, should not show a next test date, because the dutyholder decides when the next test is due. So Hovermarks labels show no date by default, and the staff who scan them see the live record. For a category of medical equipment, an Admin ticks one setting and its labels add the SERVICED date and the next due date. The reasoning for general equipment is in PAT labels that stay current.

Supported living

In supported living, people live in their own homes, with tenancies separate from their care. In England, CQC regulates the personal care, not the home, and the equipment may belong to the person, a community equipment service or you. Hovermarks works the same way as in a care home, with these differences.

• Each address is a site. Every home, flat or shared house is a site under one account, with its equipment listed under it. Starter covers 5 sites and Professional 20; Enterprise starts at 100. When you stop working at an address, an Admin archives the site: its records stay, and it stops counting towards the limit.
• Record who owns each item. Add a choice field to the category, such as The person, Equipment service or Us, and a date field for the owner’s last examination. For equipment you supply, Regulation 15 applies in full. For equipment you didn’t supply, CQC expects you to make every effort to make sure it is clean, safe and suitable.
• Pre-use checks, whoever owns it. HSE’s hoisting checklist says to check the hoist and sling before each use and check that the thorough examination is in date. Write a short pre-use checklist from the manufacturer’s guidance; a care worker scans the label and records the check on a phone, and a failed answer marked to raise a flag opens a defect. Each person who records checks needs a licence. The scan page then shows the latest check as the item’s last inspection.
• Your examiner records in your account, for your own equipment. Where you own the hoists and slings, invite your LOLER examiner, or the company that services your equipment, as a Contractor and tick the addresses they cover. Each examination is saved on the item it was done on.
• Someone else’s examiner, for theirs. For equipment a community equipment service or the person owns, ask the owner when it was last examined. On Professional, add their report as a certificate on the item, with reminders before it expires; on any plan, note the date in a category field.
• The landlord’s checks stay with the landlord. Gas safety checks, electrical inspections and fire safety in shared areas are for the landlord or the building’s responsible person. Hovermarks doesn’t carry them out or chase them. On Professional you can keep a copy of each record as a certificate on the address.

Who does what, with the sources: who is responsible for equipment in supported living?

What it does not do

• It does not make a home compliant or decide what a regulator will accept. It keeps the record.
• It does not hold residents’ risk assessments, care plans or handling plans, and is not a substitute for them.
• It does not carry out or sign off a LOLER thorough examination: a competent person does that, and Hovermarks records it.
• It does not measure bed rail gaps. The person doing the check measures and records them.
• It does not set your intervals for you. You set each schedule from the law, the manufacturer’s instructions and your own policy.
• It needs a data connection to open, load your equipment and start an inspection.

Further reading

• LOLER for hoists and slings in care homes
• Hoist and sling register for care homes
• LOLER hoist records when your examiner is a contractor
• How often should bed rails be checked?
• Care home bed and bed rail register
• CQC Regulation 15: what to keep on record
• Who is responsible for equipment in supported living?
• PAT testing in Hovermarks
• Fire door inspection register template
• Legionella water hygiene logbook
• Hovermarks for contractors