Check to Protect, which enhances the skills and knowledge of staff in care homes, has been taken up by almost half the 300 adult social care providers in the county. It has been developed by Tanya Kidson, infection prevention and control lead nurse for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin clinical commissioning groups. ‘There are lots of supportive initiatives and tools around for NHS organisations to monitor practices and maintain consistency, but not so much for the independent care sector – which still has to meet Care Quality Commission (CQC) requirements.’Tanya and her colleague Jill Hassall began to look at how the infection prevention and control team could work with the independent sector to ensure that residents and clients enjoyed the best care and that providers met commissioning and CQC requirements.
‘The tools provide the sector with a means to evidence that every resident/client is receiving the right care, at the right time in a safe environment,’ says Tanya. They include hand hygiene, oral hygiene, waste disposal, enteral feeding and equipment cleaning. The information gathered, coupled with the nurses' specialist knowledge, enabled the team to produce a set of assessment tools built around the main areas that the independent sector felt were its priorities.
As each tool was developed, volunteers from the working group piloted the tools for six to eight weeks within their work area. Feedback was also obtained from service managers, staff and residents/clients, with the results taken on board and the tools refined.
Assessor prompts are provided for each of the tools to ensure assessments are consistent, so Tanya’s team delivered training sessions for staff designated to the role. ‘We spend time in the home to help skill those who will carry it forward,’ says Tanya.’
The Check to Protect tools have been used for the past three years at Alexander House in Ludlow, a 22-bed residential care home for people aged over 80. It cares for people with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory and visual impairment.
Manager Sue Grehan says: ‘All the Check to Protect tools are user-friendly and easy for employees to understand,’ says Sue. ‘Implementing them has certainly improved the standard of infection control within the home and staff are also more vigilant in spotting any infection issues so that they can be addressed.’
County-wide, the tools have also been credited with helping to reduce the attack rate and length of diarrhoea and vomiting outbreaks as a result of norovirus. A review of all diarrhoea and vomiting outbreaks reported to date in 2014/15 has found the majority of outbreaks have been contained within a period of eight days compared to 15 in previous years. It has also been attributed to helping cut hospital admissions when norovirus has been circulating in the community. To date in 2014/15 no residents from care homes have been admitted to hospital due to diarrhoea and vomiting, dehydration or associated urinary tract infections.
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