Downing House

•The provider ensured that Covid-19 policies and procedures were frequently reviewed and updated in light of government changes.

•All staff received specialist training so that they understood how to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus and were supervised and monitored to ensure guidelines were followed.

•The cleaning schedule for the home was reviewed and domestic staff hours increased. Monitoring of cleaning was robust, and improvements made if required.

•Procedures for people entering the home, including new admissions or those returning from hospital, kept people safe. The procedures included completing a lateral flow Covid-19 test, having a temperature check, hand cleansing the donning of personal protective equipment (PPE) and a period of isolation. The isolation depended on the reason for entering the home, for example, until the test result was apparent for a visitor or 10 days for a new admission.

•Action was taken to keep friends and families in touch and regular video and phone calls were facilitated. The service demonstrated compassion and had risk assessed and enabled very limited visiting for a small number of people who had been particularly poorly.

•Staff and people were regularly tested in line with government current COVID-`19 testing program and people had received Covid-19 vaccinations in line with the Government mass-vaccination programme.

We found the following example of good practice.

The provider had developed, and employed at Downing House, a new post of Covid-19 Administrator, whose main responsibility was to take the lead in organising, completing and recording COVID-19 tests and test results. This was working effectively at Downing House.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found