We carried out an unannounced inspection of the service on 15 March 2018. The Local Care Group is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It currently provides a service to older adults.

When we previously undertook a comprehensive inspection of the service in March 2017 the provider was in breach of a number of regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regualtions 2014 and were rated as inadequate. The service was served Warning notices for these regulations and following our comprehensive inspection we undertook two further inspections to follow up on our warning notices. At these inspections we found the provider had made improvements that ensured they were no longer in breach of these regulations. At this inspection we found the provider had sustained these improvments and has been rated as Good.

A registered manager was present during the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of the inspection, The Local Care Group supported six people who received some element of support with their personal care.

People received safe care delivered by staff who understood their role in safeguarding the people in their care. Risks to people’s safety were assessed and managed to keep them safe. They were supported by sufficient numbers of a well established staff group who arrived on time and supported them in the time allocated in their care package.

People who received medicines were supported in a safe way as staff had the necessary training to administer medicines safely. They were protected from the risks of infection through good working practices by staff.

People’s care was delivered in line with legislation and evidenced based practice. The staff had knowledge of the Equality act and did not discriminate against people in their care. Staff were supported with regular training in all aspects of their role and received regular supervision from the registered manager.

Where people were supported with their nutritional needs, staff showed a good awareness of their dietary needs and where to get further support should this be required. Staff worked with people, their relatives and health professionals to manage people’s health needs, making appropriate referrals for individuals when necessary.

Staff knew how to support people to make decisions and ensure their rights were respected, working in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were supported by staff who were caring and kind. They knew people’s care needs well and supported them to ensure their views were considered at all times. People were treated with dignity and respect and their privacy was maintained.

People received individualised, person centred care from staff well known to them. They were aware of how to raise concerns and complaints and the registered manager responded to complaints promptly. When staff supported people at the end of their life, they worked to ensure their wishes were acted upon and supported their relatives during this time.

The management team were open, honest and approachable in the way they managed the service. There were established quality monitoring processes in place that had a positive effect on the quality of care people received.

This announced inspection was carried out on 9 August 2017. The Local Care Group Ltd provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes in Bingham and surrounding areas in South Nottinghamshire. On the day of the inspection visit there were five people using the service who received personal care.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 15 March 2017. Breaches of legal requirements were found and we issued a warning notice in relation to one of these breaches. We asked the provider to take action to ensure that the service was responsive to the needs of the people who used the service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had made the improvements and now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for The Local Care Group Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People received care from a provider who was implementing quality monitoring processes to improve the care they provided. Systems were in place to ensure safe recruitment and monitoring of staff training needs had resulted in staff receiving appropriate training for their roles.

This announced inspection was carried out on 9 June 2017. The Local Care Group Ltd provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes in Bingham and surrounding areas in South Nottinghamshire. On the day of the inspection visit there were eight people using the service who received personal care.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 15 March 2017. Breaches of legal requirements were found and we issued a warning notice in relation to one of these breaches. We asked the provider to take action to ensure that the service was responsive to the needs of the people who used the service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had made the improvements and now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for The Local Care Group Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Risks people may face were now being assessed to ensure they received their care safely. Systems were now in place to guide staff on how to ensure people took their medicines safely.

People were being cared for by staff who were being trained and supported in their work. People’s needs and how these should be met were described in a plan of their care.

This announced inspection was carried out on 15 March 2017. The Local Care Group Ltd provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes in Bingham and surrounding areas in south Nottinghamshire. On the day of the inspection visit there were eleven people using the service who received personal care.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were supported by staff who lacked knowledge about the risks people could face and did not know how to report any concerns of abuse or harm they identified when they visited people.

People may not receive their care or any medicines they take safely. This was because staff had not been trained on how to do this, and there was a lack of risk management systems to recognise risks people faced and how these could be managed safely.

People could be supported by care workers who were not suitable because there was not an established recruitment process to ensure they were. People could be supported by staff who did not have the right skills and knowledge to meet their needs.

People provided consent to their care, but their right to make decisions for themselves may be overlooked. People were cared for by staff who ensured they had sufficient to eat and drink and showed an interest in their health and wellbeing.

People found the staff who supported them were caring and kind, and they were able to express their views about the care and support they required. They were shown respect and treated with dignity in the way they wished to be.

People’s care plans were not kept up to date and did not contain the information staff needed to meet their needs. Any complaints made were responded to but these were not used as a way of improving the service.

The views and experiences of people who used the service, relatives and staff were not captured to develop the service and identify what was important for them. There was a lack of systems to monitor the quality of the service and identify where improvements were needed.

Care workers had not been provided with the leadership and personal development needed to provide a service that meets the legislative requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

“The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’.

Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider’s registration of the service, will be inspected again within six months.

The expectation is that providers found to have been providing inadequate care should have made significant improvements within this timeframe.

If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe so that there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed, could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement so there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action to prevent the provider from operating this service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration.

For adult social care services the maximum time for being in special measure