Regulation 18: Notification of other incidents
Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/3112)
Last verified by Verivius on 19 May 2026. Next review due 17 Aug 2026.
Plain British summary
A long list of "other incidents" must be notified to CQC without delay: serious harm to service users, abuse and allegations of abuse, incidents reported to or investigated by the police, events threatening your ability to continue safely (insufficient staff, lengthy utility interruptions, premises damage, fire-alarm failure), placement of under-18s in adult psychiatric units lasting over 48 hours, and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards applications and outcomes. For health service bodies, the duty is disapplied where the incident has been reported to NHS England.
Full text on legislation.gov.uk. Treat quotes on this page as targeted excerpts, not as a substitute for the regulation.
Targeted verbatim quotes (10)
“any injury to a service user which, in the reasonable opinion of a health care professional, has resulted in”
Reg 18(2)(a) (serious harm -- lead-in)
“an impairment of the sensory, motor or intellectual functions of the service user which is not likely to be temporary,”
Reg 18(2)(a)(i) (impairment of function)
“changes to the structure of a service user's body,”
Reg 18(2)(a)(ii) (structural changes)
“the service user experiencing prolonged pain or prolonged psychological harm, or”
Reg 18(2)(a)(iii) (prolonged pain or psychological harm)
“the shortening of the life expectancy of the service user.”
Reg 18(2)(a)(iv) (shortened life expectancy)
“any abuse or allegation of abuse in relation to a service user.”
Reg 18(2)(e): abuse
“any incident which is reported to, or investigated by, the police.”
Reg 18(2)(f): police involvement
“an interruption in the supply to premises … of electricity, gas, water or sewerage where that interruption has lasted for longer than a continuous period of 24 hours.”
Reg 18(2)(g)(ii): utility interruption threshold
“any placement of a service-user under the age of eighteen in a psychiatric unit whose services are intended for persons over that age where that placement has lasted for longer than a continuous period of 48 hours.”
Reg 18(2)(h): under-18s in adult psychiatric units
“The registered person must notify the Commission of … any request to a supervisory body made pursuant to Part 4 of Schedule A1 to the 2005 Act by the registered person for a standard authorisation … any application made to a court in relation to depriving a service user of their liberty pursuant to section 16(2)(a) of the 2005 Act.”
Reg 18(4A): DoLS applications
What Verivius does for you
Notifiable event auto-spawn (broad)
This regulation is the catch-all that drives the largest share of Verivius's notifiable-event creation. Incidents tagged as serious harm, abuse, police involvement, service-disruption events, and DoLS applications spawn notifiable events linked to the source record.
What this regulation does NOT say
Industry-folklore claims that are commonly attributed to this regulation but do not appear in the primary source.
"Without delay" means within 24 hours.
Same pattern as Reg 16. "Without delay" is not quantified by the statute. The 24-hour figure is widely adopted as a tenant SLA but is not in the regulation.