Digital systems


and dedication of staff can easily be undermined if contagious viruses such as COVID-19 are allowed to enter the home. We have taken an extract from a CQC Report dated 25 May 2022 referring to COVID-19 management at a care home, as an example of some of the day-to-day challenges that care homes are dealing with, as follows: To summarise the report (see below left), there were insufficient checks for infections, which might include COVID-19, and the lateral flow tests carried out were not being documented correctly.


The key role of technology Some care homes have invested in professional temperature monitoring technology as a method for addressing the above areas of concern as they are fast, convenient, and can do a fantastic job of identifying serious illness at an early stage. Our FeverCheckerPro is one such system – a sleek tablet-like device with integrated tech that carries out a contactless temperature check in under one second and automatically records the check for traceability. This technology addresses the two primary concerns regarding preventing and controlling infection in the above CQC Report. While temperature testing is not a COVID-19 test per se, the primary and initial detectable symptom of COVID-19 is a fever. This typically occurs within the first 24 hours of the infection cycle and temperature rises to fever level over an 8-18 hour period. Frequent, regular temperature monitoring and tracking reveals the onset of a fever, and alerts to the need to seek medical intervention and assessment such as a PCR test. During this initial 24/48-hour period the virus cycle infection levels are low so any interactions with other people are less likely to lead to contagion, whereas the more established the infection, the


more contagious a person becomes. Like many illnesses, it is far better to ‘catch’ and treat an illness early rather than wait for it to become more embedded and inevitably more dangerous. While the consequences of COVID-19 infection may sometimes be mild and flu-like, they can unfortunately be fatal in some and are unknown at the inception of contagion – hence the value of early-stage monitoring. It should not be forgotten that a fever is also indicative of other serious illnesses such as influenza, pneumonia, monkeypox, and sepsis, with the latter having some particularly horrible consequences. Digital temperature monitoring


technology is a low cost, fast simple and convenient method of COVID-19 surveillance which addresses the concerns described in the CQC Report as well as an Employers’ social responsibility and duty of care. Such technology can address the practicalities of alerts and recording the monitoring data which in turn fulfils the requirement of the CQC that care homes have evidence of the checks. The data stored can include a photograph of the person checked by the system’s integrated binocular cameras. Moreover, when enabled, the system’s facial recognition facility can identify an individual person which then allows the data to be used for personal profiling, trend analysis, and integration into third party care home management systems. For example, a FeverCheckerPro system can alert an individual as well as the care home management that a person has a continuously rising temperature, and if they are considered a vulnerable person, the care home can initiate medical intervention before reaching a fever level temperature, potentially reducing the severity of the illness.


Monitoring technology can distribute data across networks and thus, for example, a shift manager can view live monitoring checks for staff, residents, and visitors, and have access to management reports; they may want to know immediately that a member of staff who is about to come on shift has a fever and schedule a replacement, for example. The benefits of early notification are far-reaching and can ultimately contribute to both a reduction of sickness and the efficient running of a care home.


Rich data elevates business insights Naturally, being able to reduce sickness and evidence duty of care are important


March 2023 www.thecarehomeenvironment.com


in delivering resident services efficiently and to a consistently high level. For care home groups and other large organisations that run multiple care homes, being able to access both live and historic data across their managed portfolio of care homes provides insights that can have a huge operational benefit. Reaction times can be far quicker with live data, particularly as sickness to staff and residents in care homes effects efficiency and often incurs costs


Preventing and controlling infection


We were not assured that the provider was preventing visitors from catching and spreading infections. We were not asked for proof of our negative lateral flow device (LFD) COVID-19 tests upon arrival to the service, nor were we screened for symptoms of infection before being allowed to enter the home. Although there was hand sanitiser at the entrance of the home, we were not asked to use this. We additionally observed a visitor and a staff member entering the home without using the sanitiser. We were somewhat assured the


provider was accessing testing for people and for staff. Two staff members told us they did not always test in line with guidance. Although the provider had numerous records of testing, they were unable to share that these staff were receiving routine testing in line with guidance. We were somewhat assured the infection control policy was implemented effectively to prevent and control infection. Although the policy linked to current guidance, this was not always being followed as described above. Infection control audits were in place, but these did not identify the concerns we found. During our inspection, improvements to ensure the safe management of infection control were made. For example, staff wore appropriate PPE. The registered manager also told us of their plans to further improve their infection control processes. This included additional monitoring and training We recommend the provider seeks guidance form a reputable source to ensure they effectively prevent and control the spread of infection.


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