Queensbridge House

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

We looked at 1 quality statement in this domain. The home was clean and personal protective equipment was available.

This service scored 69 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Learning culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe systems, pathways and transitions during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safeguarding during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Involving people to manage risks during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe environments during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe and effective staffing during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

People said the home was clean. One person told us “It’s clean, no complaints.” Another person told us “It is clean. My carer comes in and cleans 3-4 times a week and I get fresh towels every day. I want to stay – the standard of care is so good.” Another person told us “Cleaning is of a good standard and standards have been consistent. When there are outbreaks there are more hand sanitiser available.”

Staff told us there was a plentiful supply of personal protective equipment (PPE). Domestic staff were on duty every day and said they had enough cleaning products to maintain the cleanliness of the home. One staff member told us “The housekeeping is good. Stock supplies are good. There is routine cleaning in the morning and evening.” Another staff member told us “It is very clean and tidy here. We [staff] also try to keep it tidy. I have never run out of PPE.” Staff we spoke to were able to tell us about the correct protocol for managing outbreaks. One staff member told us about their health and safety training “We must do online training, PPE, food safety, infection control and the training is very good. We have had face to face training as well and it needs to be updated every 6 months.” The registered manager told us about the protocols in place to support people to keep safe and explained all staff have a responsibility to clean the areas they are allocated to. The manager told us they have oversight of all the internal audits conducted by the Head of Housekeeping. The provider aimed to maintain areas of the service annually such as painting and decorating as needed.

Some areas of the service required a deep clean or refurbishment. For example, there were burnt out light bulbs in the chandelier, dust in most areas of the service and rooms in need of re-painting. We raised these issues with the management team who acted on the day of the inspection to replace the light bulbs and dust the areas we pointed out. The laundry was a very small area in the basement with damage to the walls from flooding, there were also empty hand washing dispensers. Not all of the refrigerators were clean, and the freezers in the basement had broken inserts. We observed there were adequate stocks of PPE available for use. Whilst we saw no impact on people, the lack of maintenance in some areas of the service posed potential risks to people’s health and safety.

Systems were in place to audit and maintain the service’s environment; however, we found some of the checks were not always effective. For example, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) audit had not identified out-of-date COSHH assessments were still being used. At the time of the inspection, the service did not operate a clear cleaning schedule to assist staff in understanding the necessary cleaning tasks and frequency required. Staff were expected to observe and clean areas when they conducted their daily walk around checks and document on the daily walk around form. However, the form did not clearly outline the expectations for this cleaning procedure. The registered manager was responsive to our feedback and updated the form and developed a new cleaning schedule, which would be implemented the following month. We saw the service had appropriate risk assessments in place for the management of an outbreak. The service had appropriate policies and procedures in place to guide staff on good infection control practices.

We did not look at Medicines optimisation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.