Compass House

Updated 21 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by three inspectors who visited locations and one inspector who made phone calls to relatives.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 44 ‘supported living’ locations, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there were three registered managers in post covering all 44 supported living locations.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection activity started on 31 January 2023 and ended on 14 February 2023. We visited the location’s office on 31 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 27 October 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements.

During the inspection

We spoke with 14 people, 7 relatives, 3 registered managers, 8 team leaders, and 12 support staff. We visited 8 supported living locations in 6 different boroughs as well as the registered office. We reviewed people’s care plans and medicines information, staff recruitment files and quality auditing systems as well as a range of other documentation. We observed people’s support where appropriate and spent time speaking with people and their relatives.

Updated 21 March 2023

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

Choice Support Compass House is a supported living service providing personal care to 93 people at the time of the inspection. The service was supporting 206 people but not everyone was supported with the regulated activity of personal care. Our inspection only focused on the 93 people who received personal care and lived in 44 different supported living locations.

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

Right Support:

People had a choice about their living environment and were able to personalise their rooms.

Staff carried out daily living tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, whilst actively supporting people to take part. The registered managers worked with the quality team to promote what activities people could do, so people had fulfilling and meaningful everyday lives. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way they wanted but we found some medicines were not managed well. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in their local area and to interact online with people who had shared interests.

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.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. One person told us, “Very good care here.” Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

Right Culture:

Managers did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. Quality assurance systems and processes to maintain and develop the safety and quality of care were not always operating effectively; some staff told us they could not access some systems such as electronic system for recording incidents. People and their relatives told us they liked living in their homes, and people were supported to maintain their own tenancies. The provider was aware of and were committed to providing resources to make improvements swiftly. Equality and diversity was respected in the different locations and within the provider’s organisation.

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 this service, under the previous provider, was outstanding (published 7 February 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to risks and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

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