Castle House

We found the following examples of good practice.

The service had good clear signage at the entrance of the home explaining visiting arrangements, what to expect and a supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for visitors to use.

Visitors were only permitted via prearrangement and were asked a health declaration and to take a lateral flow Covid test. Visitors were asked to wait in their car or entrance lobby for test results before being admitted.

Staff were ensuring people were being supported in their rooms as they had had some staff test positive. These staff were self-isolating, but as a precaution they were ensuring social distancing and isolating people in their rooms until whole home test results were back. Staff reported that this was a challenge due to people's dementia needs, but they had managed this well.

There was a plentiful supply of PPE.

Regular testing was occurring, and a dedicated member of additional staff had been rotated on to ensure this ran smoothly.

Staff were working hard to ensure people had regular comfort visits in the rooms to check they were ok and to spend time with them as needed.

The laundry area was being refurbished to make it easier to ensure infection control processes were being followed.

The service had developed policies and plans to ensure any outbreak was being managed within the national guidance.

Staff were due to have updated training from the local CCG specialist infection control team.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found