Guide

Worried About Someone’s Care? What to Record Before You Raise a Concern

Published 2026-09-22

If something about someone's care doesn't feel right, it's easy for the details to blur together — a phone call here, something you noticed there, a comment from a carer that's stuck with you. This guide is about one thing: keeping a clear, factual record of what's happening, from the point something first feels wrong.

It doesn't tell you what to conclude, and it isn't legal, medical or safeguarding advice — see our Disclaimer for more on that. It's a practical starting point, useful whether you end up raising a concern, making a complaint, or simply keeping track for your own peace of mind.

First: is this urgent?

Before anything else: if someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

If you suspect abuse or neglect, Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 means local authorities have safeguarding duties where the statutory conditions are met — including where an adult with care and support needs is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect, and is unable to protect themselves because of those needs. You can raise a safeguarding concern directly with the adult's local authority, or ask the care provider how to make a safeguarding referral.

Hourglass, a UK charity supporting older people affected by abuse, runs a free, confidential 24-hour helpline if you'd rather talk something through with someone first.

The rest of this guide is about keeping a record of ongoing, non-urgent concerns. KinDox is not a safeguarding or reporting service, and using it is never a substitute for reporting an urgent concern.

Why keep a record at all

A record written down close to when something happened is more useful than trying to remember it all later — dates blur, exact words get lost, and small details that matter can disappear. Keeping a record doesn't prove that anything went wrong, and it doesn't guarantee any particular outcome if you decide to raise a concern. What it does is make sure the facts are there, clearly, if and when you need them.

What to record — the essentials

For each incident or concern, the details that tend to matter most are:

Date and time — when something happened, or when you noticed it, as precisely as you can.
Location — where it happened (which room, which visit, which shift).
Who was involved — the names and roles of the people present, including the person you're concerned about.
Where the information came from — did you see it yourself, or did someone tell you? Note who told you, and when.
What actually happened — what you observed or heard, described plainly. Keep your own view of what it might mean separate; record the facts first.
Exact words, when they matter — if something specific was said that you think is important, write it down as close to word-for-word as you can, in quotation marks, noting who said it.
Facts, not assumptions — it's natural to have a theory about what's going on. Keep that separate from what you actually know. A record that mixes the two is harder to rely on later.
Photographs, documents and messages — keep anything relevant: care plans, medication charts, text messages, emails, photos of an injury or a concern (taken sensitively, with the same care you'd want shown to the person themselves).

Conversations with the care provider

When you raise something with the care provider — a call, a meeting, an email — note who you spoke to and their role, what you said and what they said back, anything they agreed to do, and any date they gave for getting back to you or fixing something.

Keeping track of what's unresolved

Not everything gets sorted the first time. Keep a simple running list of anything still open — what was promised, and whether it happened by the date given. It's easy to lose track of two or three loose threads; it's much harder to lose track of a written list.

Building a chronology

As entries build up, put them in date order. A clear timeline — this happened, then this, then this — is far easier to follow than the same information scattered across notebooks, texts and memory. It also makes it much easier to spot a pattern, if there is one.

Keep the originals

Keep the original photo, message or document, not just your description of it. A screenshot can be cropped and a memory can drift; the original is what actually matters if you need to refer back to it.

Before you raise a concern or complain

If you decide the concern needs to be raised formally, the usual starting point is the organisation providing the care — the care home, home-care agency or other adult social-care service — since regulated care providers are required to have their own complaints procedure. If that doesn't resolve things, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can look into qualifying adult social care complaints once the provider or council has had a chance to respond. The Care Quality Commission regulates care services and wants to hear about poor care, but it does not investigate or resolve individual complaints on your behalf. We cover the complaints process itself, step by step — including a free complaint letter template — in our guide on how to complain about a care home. This one is about having a clear record ready before you get there.

Where KinDox fits

You can keep this kind of record using notes, folders or other methods. The important thing is that the information stays clear, organised and easy to find. KinDox is designed to make that easier: a structured place for incidents, conversations, evidence and follow-ups, organised by date, without needing several different apps or a pile of paper. It doesn't have any special legal or official status — it's simply a tool for organising the same record described in this guide.

Before you go

Whatever you decide to do next, the record you keep from today is the one that will actually help. Start with today's date, and go from there.

Sources & further reading

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