Penhill Residential Home

The service had a mixture of open waste paper bins, swing top bins and bin bags tied to the side of PPE trolleys to dispose of used PPE. This could increase the risk of cross infection due to bins not being the pedal type which could mean people and staff being exposed to PPE that was dirty and contaminated. Staff were disposing of PPE into a tied bag that was left for 72 hrs whilst supporting anyone with symptoms, self- isolating or who had tested positive for coronavirus.

The dining area had been set up to support social distancing. However, we found the lounge area and conservatory had not had chairs removed so that there was good spacing between people. We raised this with the registered manager who confirmed they would review the situation.

We found the following examples of good practice.

People were supported to keep in touch with families. This included visits within the service in the conservatory area where people could have visits from behind a Perspex screen. People were also having visits for those who were receiving end of life care.

There was a system in place to take visitor's temperature on arrival and this was recorded electronically. People had their temperatures checked daily and staff were aware of the different symptoms people could have if they had contracted coronavirus. Additional cleaning regimes were in place to ensure high standards of cleaning. This included paying attention to high touch areas such as door handles, light switches and bannisters. The service was clean and odour free.

The service had good relationships with the local GP practice. The provider was testing staff every week and people monthly.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Penhill Residential Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

The five questions we ask about services and what we found