Bartletts Residential Home

We found the following examples of good practice.

People were supported to keep in touch with their families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This included individual visitor plans as part of their care plan to make sure their social contact needs are met. There was a booking system in place to stagger visitors and visit times to minimise visitor numbers. Prior to each visit, visitors completed a lateral flow test and had the visitor expectations and procedures clearly explained.

Additional cleaning schedules had been introduced to reflect additional tasks such as cleaning of frequently touched surfaces. Regular audits took place which led to improvements and safety.

Staff and people using the service took part in regular testing for COVID-19. Additionally, staff carried out lateral flow testing twice a week, which enabled them to receive test results within 15-30 minutes. This helped the service to reduce the risk of spreading infection and allowed them to closely monitor and act immediately to ensure government guidelines can be followed where positive test results were discovered.

Staff told us the management team had been and continued to be supportive of staff, and risk assessments had been completed with staff who identified as facing higher risks. Managers were positive about the commitment staff had shown throughout the pandemic and a variety of initiatives had been implemented including 'Thursday Thank Yous' and personalised gift boxes.

There was a strong emphasis on the use of technology and innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the use of video technology to enable people to keep in touch with their families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and collaborative work with NHSX (the unit tasked with driving digital transformation in the NHS).

The five questions we ask about services and what we found