Sandalwood Court

We found the following examples of good practice.

Safe arrangements were in place for visitors to the service including relatives and friends, professionals and others. This included a booking system, rapid LFD testing, showing evidence of vaccination, temperature checks, visitor agreement and sign in process.

Isolation, cohorting and zoning were used to manage the risk of infection spread. This meant people self- isolated in their rooms when necessary and staff were allocated to work in certain areas of the service should anyone test positive for COVID-19.

The layout of the service supported social distancing as there were several lounge and dining areas on each floor. Everyone living in the service had access to their own toilet and shower facilities which reduced the risk of infection spread.

Enhanced cleaning and disinfection of all areas of the service continued to take place to reduce the risk of cross contamination.

There was plenty of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks, gloves, aprons and hand sanitiser available. PPE stations were located around the service. Used PPE was disposed of safely in clinical bins. Checks took place to ensure staff maintained good hand hygiene practice and put on and took off PPE properly.

A regular programme of testing for COVID-19 was in place for staff and people who lived in the service. This meant swift action could be taken if anyone received a positive test result.

There were no agency staff working in the service which meant fewer staff coming in and out of the building. This helped keep people safe. The staff team worked together to cover any gaps in the rota, supported by bank staff.

The registered manager had good oversight of infection prevention and control processes. They undertook regular quality assurance checks. Policies and procedures were in place and up to date, which supported good practice in all areas of infection prevention and control.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found