4 February 2022
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We found the following examples of good practice.
There were PPE stations throughout the service and hand sanitiser outside each room.
Staff had been allocated to provide one to one support for people living at the service, this reduced the risk of cross contamination.
Staff had been trained in infection prevention and control, food hygiene and COVID-19. They had also been trained in hand washing and donning and doffing personal protective equipment. Staff were also assessed as to their competency with infection control practises.
Senior staff and managers all have laptops so that they are not sharing equipment. All staff have mobile phones and there is a separate phone for residents and also and two tablets so that people can make video calls to relatives.
The registered manager had adapted staff training and now train in smaller groups used to have eight staff members now do hour slots with two people.
A regular programme of testing for COVID-19 was in place for staff and people who lived in the service. This meant swift action could be taken if anyone received a positive test result.
We saw that cleaning took place throughout the service, even in areas which were unoccupied. Staff had individual rooms where they took their breaks and they also had a separate room for donning and doffing personal protective equipment.
During the first outbreak of COVID-19 staff had not shared transport to reduce the risk of cross contamination and where necessary the service had paid for taxi’s where other transport was not available. This practice had continued throughout to reduce the risk of cross contamination.
The registered manager had developed a range of folders for the staff to be able to quickly reference information on COVID-19. There was a notice board which had clear information about caring for people who tested positive and those who were negative. There was also a COVID-19 risk assessment on the board which was regularly reviewed.
There was a robust infection prevention and control audit in place. If there were any areas for improvement identified, there was a clear action plan on how this had been followed up.
Professional visitors had a sign in sheet where it asked for lateral flow test result and vaccine status. The registered manager had a log of professional visitors who regularly entered the service.