Updated 22 February 2022
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
As part of CQC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are looking at how services manage infection control and visiting arrangements. This was a targeted inspection looking at the infection prevention and control measures the provider had in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.
This inspection took place on 27 January 2022 and was short term announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. We spoke to six staff members including the registered manager, the unit lead nurse, another nurse, a front of house administrator and two residents.
We found the following examples of good practice;
Staff asked residents for their preferred type of visits; most residents wanted face to face normally but many wanted none during the worst peak waves of Covid. Service staff facilitated essential carer giver (ECG) visits. ECGs were managed as part of the service’s PCR testing regime.
All the service’s staff and residents were double vaccinated and had booster jabs. The service maintained a vaccination tracker we reviewed from November 2021. This monitored dates of all staff vaccinations and which type, where they worked in the home and any reactions or side effects. The home administrator kept copies of all Covid passports and vaccinations for staff, residents and visitors. They told us staff helped quite a lot of other staff, residents and relatives with IT/technical support to download their Covid passports.
The service supported staff wellbeing through a welfare officer based in Nottingham who we heard was very responsive. All staff were aware of them and they had won an award at the December 2021 staff awards event. The service also held a family umbrella monthly wellness group as many staff were depressed and anxious during Covid. This focused on a different topic each month such as the menopause. Managers found this group helped to reduce staff sickness through discussion.
The service had implemented a Covid champions role. We reviewed the 12 responsibilities of this role which included sharing links to the latest government guidelines with staff via social messaging groups, to ensure PPE, cleaning products and test kits were well stocked, required and that contingency supplies are robust.
All the service’s eight administrative staff were antibiotic guardians. The service had done lots of work on administering antiviral antibiotics onsite which was unusual for care homes.
Although it was not required practice, district nurses (DNs) adopted asceptic techniques. Managers told us they had a very close supportive relationship with their DNs. The service had held a staff awards night in December 2021 where the DN team won an IPC award.
The service’s hair salon had been converted into a decontamination room since Covid. This room had a UV light handwashing monitor which showed any missed areas when people placed their hands under. Each unit at the service had its own sluice room and linen store to prevent any risk of cross-infection or contamination.
Service staff had held infection control and dementia information sessions for resident family relatives to help them understand the issues and difficulties residents faced. The RMs told us they received less complaints from relatives as a result. This also helped relatives to bond and form support groups with the service’s other resident relatives
We saw evidence the service had responded to feedback and concerns people raised. For example a noticeboard outlined some ‘you said, what we did’ actions around visiting, access to opticians, day trips/outings, the care home enviro