The Local Care Group Ltd

Updated 20 April 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 15 March 2018 and was unannounced.

The service was inspected by one inspector. We visited one person and made telephone calls to people who used the service. We also received information by email from representatives of people using the service. Before the inspection, we reviewed information we held about the service, which included notifications the provider had sent us. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law. We also contacted Local Authority commissioners of adult social care services and asked them for their views of the service provided.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at two care plans, medicines records, staff recruitment and training records, as well as a range of records relating to the running of the service including quality audits carried out by staff at the service.

Updated 20 April 2018

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.