Archived: Greswold House

Greswold House is a residential care home providing personal care and accommodation for up to 30 people some of whom may live with Dementia. The service was supporting 30 people at the time of the inspection. The home has three separate units across three floors.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The providers internal checks had not identified the shortfalls we found during our inspection. These needed to more detailed to ensure they covered all required areas to identity and drive improvements. The management of medicines required improving to ensure the recording, and storage of medicines was safe.

People were supported by staff that understood their needs and had been trained and understood how to protect people from abuse. People had access to healthcare professionals to ensure their healthcare needs were met. Systems were in place to reduce the risk of infection, and to review any incident and accidents to see if there were any lessons to learn from these.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People enjoyed the food provided which met their preferences. People were supported to access meaningful activities which they enjoyed.

People made positive comments about the staff that supported them. Staff were described as kind, caring and respectful. People were treated with respect and dignity and their independence was promoted. People knew how to raise concerns and felt confident any issues would be addressed. People were supported to provide feedback about the way the service was managed.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good published on 01 April 2019.

Why we inspected

We undertook this comprehensive inspection due to the service being unrated following a change in provider.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

We found the following examples of good practice.

¿ A Perspex screen and a ‘visitor pod’ were used during some visits to maintain social distancing. Using the screen meant people were able to see and talk to their visitors safely in line with current guidance.

¿ People were supported to maintain contact with people who were important to them in a variety of ways. For example, a large computer tablet was used to make video calls. A private social media group was also used to share updates and photographs with people’s family members.

¿ The range of social activities available to people had been increased to keep them occupied and improve their wellbeing. For example, people enjoyed socially distanced ‘corridor karaoke’ sessions.

¿ The home had three floors. Staff worked solely on one floor to minimise the of transmission of Covid-19.

¿ Staff had completed Coronavirus awareness training to help them provide safe care to people during the pandemic.

¿ Cleaning schedules had been increased to monitor cleanliness of the environment and staff compliance with the provider’s infection control policy.