8 February 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We found the following examples of good practice.
We were safely shown around the whole home but we did not enter people’s bedrooms. This was because we wanted to keep our movements in the home to a minimum, complying with the provider’s visitor’s policy. The home was exceptionally clean throughout. Since the start of the pandemic, the provider had increased the level of housekeeping staff to support additional cleaning. The home was equipped with all the necessary equipment and cleaning products to maintain a clean and safe environment.
The provider had a visitor’s policy and procedure in place. Each person’s family/friends had been notified of the policy. The door entry system included a temperature scan. Visitors were not let into the home if they were running a high temperature. Visitors who did not have a recent negative COVID-19 test result had to complete a lateral flow test and then wait outside until the result was known. The registered manager explained that at the current time only people who were receiving end of life care or were very poorly were being visited in the home. The visitors were provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and then shown to the area of the home they were visiting.
Pre-booked window visits could be arranged with other families. The staff team were also supporting people with telephone calls and video calls in order to keep in contact with their family. In preparation for when families were able to visit their loved ones again, a visitor’s pod had already been installed in the garden. This facility will always have to be pre-booked.
Staff practised social distancing from their work colleagues and people as much as they were able. They wore additional PPE when delivering personal care. For those people who were living with dementia, the staff did their best to ensure the two metre social distancing rule was complied with.
Staff supported people with social activities. There was reduced use of the lounges for group activities – people were taking it in turns to use the lounges. The staff had assessed each person’s level of loneliness and risk of isolation. Social time was allocated to them and the care staff visited them in their rooms and spent 1:1 time with them.
The home was open for admissions. When people were admitted from home or hospital they had to have a negative PCR result within the previous 48 hours and after admission to the home had to isolate in their room for a 14 day period. There was a number of new admissions in December 2020 and the processes in place had prevented COVID-19 from entering the home. Some rooms were being kept empty to allow for a potential need for an isolation area to be set up.
PPE was being used effectively and correctly by all the staff who were on duty. The management team monitored compliance continuously. A designated member of staff completed regular PPE competency checklists with individual staff members. The service has a plentiful supply of PPE and was complying with current guidance
Staff had received training on the correct procedures for donning and doffing PPE and good hand hygiene techniques. Infection prevention and control training was mandatory but additional COVID-19 training had also been delivered to the staff team.
The registered manager said people were now used to the staff wearing face masks. To aid recognition though, the staff may have an un-masked picture of themselves in their pockets to show a person who needed assurance.
There was a weekly testing programme for staff in place. Each week staff had a full COVID-19 test (a PCR test) and twice a week a lateral flow test. People living in Clevedon Court were tested each month. All but one person has had their first dose of vaccine, as had the majority of the staff team. The management team had a plan in place to use the top floor bedrooms if there was an outbreak of infection so people could continue to be cared for but be isolated from the others.
One lounge has been taken out of use and was now used as a staff changing area. The furniture in other lounges had been spaced apart to encourage social distancing. Most people chose to be looked after in their bedrooms. Each bedroom had their own ensuite facilities consisting of a toilet, wash hand basin and shower. The five bedrooms on the top floor had an ensuite with a toilet and wash hand basin only, plus there is a shared shower room on the same floor.
The service has an Ozone machine and a fogging machine to sanitise areas. This was used for example to sanitise communal areas and after the visitors pod has been used.
The provider’s policies and procedures were up to date and included COVID-19 information. The service was supported by the local authority COVID-19 team who kept them abreast of any changing practice and expectations. The registered manager met with the provider every fortnight but had daily contact with them.