A care home moving and handling assessment is a person-centred document — one per resident, kept in the care plan and reviewed whenever the resident's mobility, weight or cognitive status changes. It sits under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 for staff safety and under CQC Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) for resident safety. The two duties are interlocked: the assessment must protect both the staff member doing the handling and the resident being handled. This template covers transfers, repositioning, hoisting, sling selection, falls recovery, bariatric care and the specific cognitive-and-behavioural factors that distinguish care-home handling from acute-hospital handling.
MHOR 1992 reg 4(1)(b) requires the employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of any manual handling operation that cannot be avoided. CQC Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires care providers to do all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate risks to service users. The single per-resident assessment satisfies both — but it has to be visibly person-centred (using the resident's name, preferences, communication needs and consent under the Mental Capacity Act 2005) rather than a tick-box manual-handling form lifted from a construction template.
This is the single biggest difference reviewers look for: care-home handling is a relationship, not a task. A document that reads like a builders'-merchant lifting assessment fails Regulation 12 on its face.
The HSE L23 TILE framework still applies but is expanded in care to TILEO (Task, Individual handler, Load — i.e. the resident, Environment, Other factors). For the 'Load' the assessment names the resident's weight, height, mobility level (using a recognised scale), cognitive status (any dementia diagnosis, capacity to consent, behavioural triggers), and communication needs. For the 'Environment' the assessment names the specific room, the ceiling-track or mobile-hoist provision, the bed type (electric profiling, bariatric), and the bathroom / toilet access.
The handling plan is then specific: number of staff, named equipment (hoist model, sling type and size by colour code), sequence of movement, and the verbal-cue script if the resident responds to consistent wording.
Hoists and ceiling tracks are lifting equipment under LOLER 1998 and require six-monthly thorough examination (regulation 9). The assessment must reference the LOLER certificate number and the next-due date. Slings are the single most common source of adverse incidents — wrong size, wrong type, mixed manufacturers (a sling from one manufacturer is not always certified for a hoist from another), and visual-inspection failures. The assessment names the sling by manufacturer, model, size (by colour code where applicable) and the maximum safe working load.
CQC inspections routinely sample the LOLER register and the sling inspection log; a missing certificate or a sling in use beyond its inspection date is a Regulation 12 breach.
The home manager, the lead nurse (in a nursing home) and the CQC inspector read in this order: resident name and current weight; mobility scale score and date; MCA capacity-and-consent record; handling plan with named equipment and staff numbers; LOLER and sling references; falls and skin-integrity history; review date and trigger conditions (weight change, mobility change, post-admission, post-discharge, post-fall, post-skin-breakdown).
A single per-resident assessment older than 12 months, or any assessment that has not been re-done after a fall or hospital admission, is a routine adverse finding.
The numbered sections a reviewer expects to see, in order.
Name, DoB, current weight, MCA capacity record, named relative / advocate if no capacity.
Recognised mobility scale score, cognitive status, communication needs, behavioural triggers.
Task, Individual handler requirements, Load (the resident), Environment (room, equipment), Other factors.
Bed-to-chair, chair-to-toilet, repositioning in bed, falls recovery, bathing / showering — staff numbers, equipment, sequence, verbal cues.
Hoist make / model / LOLER cert / next inspection; sling manufacturer / model / colour-coded size / SWL.
Where resident weight exceeds the home's standard equipment SWL, name the bariatric equipment, the increased staff numbers and any structural floor-loading reference.
Reposition schedule, Waterlow score, pressure-relief equipment, skin inspection record.
Falls in last 12 months, post-fall protocol (do not lift until clinical assessment), emergency-lift equipment if available.
Care Certificate Standard 13 (moving and handling), annual refresher dates, hoist-and-sling sign-off for the specific equipment.
Weight change, mobility change, hospital discharge, fall, skin breakdown, behavioural change — and annual review minimum.
Why a risk assessment gets sent back — these are the patterns we see most often.
The legal framework this risk assessment operates inside. Links go to the official source.
SI 1992/2793
The statutory framework — avoid / assess / reduce for any manual handling, including handling of people.
SI 1998/2307
Regulation 9 — six-monthly thorough examination for hoists and ceiling tracks used to lift people.
SI 2014/2936
The CQC duty of safe care and treatment — the person-centred companion to MHOR.
2005 c.9
Consent and best-interest decisions where the resident lacks capacity — must be cross-referenced in the assessment.
HSE sector guidance
The sector-specific guidance on people-handling, sling inspection and post-fall protocol.
Whenever there is a change in the resident's weight, mobility, cognitive status or skin integrity — and immediately after any fall, hospital admission, hospital discharge or significant behavioural change. As a minimum, annually. A document untouched for 12 months is a routine CQC adverse finding.
No. Each resident requires a person-centred assessment in their care plan. A home-wide manual-handling policy is necessary but does not replace the per-resident document. CQC Regulation 12 is explicit on person-centred care.
A registered nurse, an experienced senior carer with Care Certificate Standard 13 plus a recognised people-handling qualification, or an external occupational health / moving-and-handling adviser. The home manager retains accountability for the document being signed off.
Hoists and ceiling tracks are LOLER reg 9 thorough examination every six months. Slings are commonly inspected on the same six-monthly cycle plus visual pre-use inspection by the carer before every lift. The home keeps a register of both with next-due dates.
Yes. Where the resident's weight exceeds the standard SWL of the home's hoist or the floor / bed loading rating, the assessment must name the bariatric equipment, the increased staff numbers and (where relevant) the structural floor-loading certification for the room.
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Final RAMS must be reviewed and approved by a competent person before use.