Policies & Procedures
A policy library that staff read and acknowledge, with reading groups, compliance tracking and AI review.
Turning on Policies & Procedures
The organisation owner turns on Policies & Procedures in Settings > Modules. Every member of staff can then see the policies that apply to them on the Policies page, along with anything they still need to read. Permissions for managing the library are set in Team > Manage role permissions. By default owners and admins can create, upload, publish and export policies; managers can view the library and the compliance dashboard.
Reading and acknowledging policies
New and updated policies that a member of staff needs to read appear under Action Required on the Policies page and on their dashboard. Each one is marked as a new policy, a minor update or a major revision, with a summary of what has changed. Staff tick "I have read and understood this policy" and select Acknowledge. If the policy requires it, Acknowledge only becomes available once they have opened the document.
Creating a policy in BoolCare
In the Policy Library, select Create Policy. Enter a title, category and review frequency, choose at least one reading group, and decide whether staff must acknowledge it. Then write the policy in the editor, which saves as you go. Publishing creates version 1 and tells everyone in the chosen reading groups. Later changes are made as a draft and published as a new version with a summary of what has changed.
Who can publish
Anyone with the Manage policies permission can create and edit drafts, but only people with the Publish policies permission can publish them. If you can edit but not publish, the editor tells you your draft has been saved and someone with the Publish permission needs to publish it. By default owners and admins can publish.
Anyone with the Manage policies permission can create and edit drafts, but only people with the Publish policies permission can publish them. If you can edit but not publish, the editor tells you your draft has been saved and someone with the Publish permission needs to publish it. By default owners and admins can publish.
Uploading an existing policy
Select Upload Policy to add a policy you already have as a PDF or Word (.docx) document. It is published straight away to the chosen reading groups. To update it later, open the policy and select Publish new version to upload a replacement. Choose Minor update if staff only need to acknowledge a short summary, or Major revision if they must read the whole policy again. Select Convert to Editable Policy to turn an uploaded policy into one you can edit in BoolCare; the conversion is approximate, so check formatting and tables.
Reading groups
Reading groups decide who a policy applies to, based on staff job roles (job roles are managed in Team settings). Go to Policies > Reading Groups to add a group, edit its name, description and job roles, or archive it. An archived group is no longer offered for new policies, but policies already using it keep it, and you can restore it at any time. A group can only be deleted if it has never been assigned to a policy; otherwise archive it. The built-in All Staff group covers everyone and cannot be changed.
Reading group permissions
Reading groups have their own permissions in Team > Manage role permissions: view, create, edit and archive, and delete. By default only owners and admins have them. To change which reading groups an existing policy applies to, open the policy and select Edit Reading Groups. This needs the Manage policies permission. It changes who is asked to read future updates; acknowledgements already recorded are not affected.
Reading groups have their own permissions in Team > Manage role permissions: view, create, edit and archive, and delete. By default only owners and admins have them. To change which reading groups an existing policy applies to, open the policy and select Edit Reading Groups. This needs the Manage policies permission. It changes who is asked to read future updates; acknowledgements already recorded are not affected.
Reviewing a policy
When a policy is published, or a new version is published, its next review date is set automatically from its review frequency (for example 12 months later), and the policy shows "Due for review" once that date passes. If nothing needs changing at review, open the policy and select Reviewed — no changes required. This sets the next review date without asking staff to acknowledge it again. Policies that are due for review also show amber on the compliance dashboard.
Compliance dashboard
Policies > Compliance shows a traffic light for every policy. Green means everyone has acknowledged it. Amber means acknowledgements are still outstanding within 14 days of publishing, or the review is due. Red means acknowledgements are outstanding more than 14 days after publishing. Select a policy to see who has and hasn't acknowledged it, or a member of staff to see their policies.
AI policy review
While editing a draft, select Review with AI to check it against current UK legislation and guidance, such as legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, the CQC and UKHSA. Each suggestion shows the current wording, the suggested wording, the reason and its sources; accept, edit or reject each one, then apply the accepted changes to the draft. The AI never publishes anything itself, and does not replace professional, legal or regulatory judgement.
While editing a draft, select Review with AI to check it against current UK legislation and guidance, such as legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, the CQC and UKHSA. Each suggestion shows the current wording, the suggested wording, the reason and its sources; accept, edit or reject each one, then apply the accepted changes to the draft. The AI never publishes anything itself, and does not replace professional, legal or regulatory judgement.
Exporting policies
To download a policy document, open it, select View current document, then Export. This needs the Export policies permission, which owners and admins have by default.