My husbands Alzheimers and recent stroke has made life incredibly difficult. Navigating care home fees is overwhelming. Compass have been a lifeline. Even though we are waiting for the final decision, they have shown compassion, patience and genuine care. Their guidance has helped me feel less alone in a very challenging time.

When I made my initial inquiry I made it clear that I was hearing impaired and would appreciate an email reply. So got about 3 phone calls followed by text messages saying to ring them. I did ring and their rep could not understand me and I could not hear him. Then another email saying they cannot reach me on the phone and can I ring them.. replied to the email explaining my hearing impairment and that I had already tried to ring. Now nothing. No emails, texts or phone calls. So I have given up. Interesting is that most companies have an accessibility section on their website. Cannot find this on this website. Do not seem to want to know if you have a hearing impairment. Never mind.

I was always kept informed and things explained in advance, regarding all stages of this CHC process.
Time was spent discussing each stage and allowed me to give my input and opinions on all matters.
I would recommend this Compass to anyone in this predicament.

I would like to thank all involved at Compass with my Mother's case.

Excellent work in our continuing health care application. The report supplied by Compass was comprehensive. The advocate helping with our case was extremely helpful explaining the whole procedure and the steps needed to be taken. We are halfway through the application process but are extremely pleased with the service and professionalism so far.

Took part in the LRM Assessment today on a teams meeting represented again by Madison Turner our Avocate for Compass. As on the first assessment Madsion was very thorough and discussed all of our domains in depth.
Truly professional and very informative and above and beyond on this case for my mother’s CHC.
Thank you so much we now await the decision by the NHS !

I spoke to Mr. Watson he was very helpful and took his time explaining things to me and insured I understood, he has a very calming assuring manner and hopefully pointed me in the right direction.

My father was taken into nursing care with vascular dementia and had his CHC refused after he was assessed with the NHS Decision Support Tool (DST).

Navigating a Continuing Health Care appeal can be difficult and time consuming for the lay person, so I reached out to Compass whose initial screening process suggested that my father may be successful in an appeal.

I instructed Compass to act on behalf and they produced a 60 page report, which was a forensic analysis of my father's medical records. There were over 650 direct quotes from his records to support our case. It also contained a lot of references to the applicable legislation and guidelines which suggested that he had been incorrectly marked down in number of categories.

I know that no company can predict whether an appeal would be successful or not, but I considered based on their report we had a 51% chance of success. Accordingly, I instructed Compass to conduct my appeal with the Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Ellie Murphy was our advocate. She phoned me an hour before the hearing to explain the procedure, and to answer any of my questions. The hearing lasted an hour and a half, and I was very impressed with Ellie. I've had previous experience with advocates and more often than not they are uninterested and underprepared. It was very clear that Ellie had thoroughly read and understood my father's case. She presented my case in a very clear and methodical manner.

In fact all my contacts with Compass have been very professional throughout the whole process.

I don't yet know the result of the ICB appeal, but with help of Compass and Ellie, we've given it our best shot. I appreciate that their services are not cheap, but if successful, it would have cost 2 months of fees. Even if unsuccessful, I would have still taken the same path.

Fingers crossed!

Compass CHC.
Advocate Maya Bates
Our Advocate was very professional friendly, she guided us through the whole process with a phone call before the main Teams meeting which gave us the overview of what was to come. In the main meeting she interjected when and where needed to make the family’s needs heard. Then after the Advocate called us back and gave a summary and opinion of the meeting. It was the quickly following up with a written email of the Teams meeting.
I would recommend to anyone going through this process to use Compass CHC and an Advocate.

They explain the complicated process (which is pretty opaque and dismissed by most people in social services, NHS and care homes).
They handled the process completely independently and kept us informed, bringing together the required professionals.
We do not know whether we will be successful yet, but would never have been able to do this on our own.
Impressive so far

We have used Compass to support us through the Continuing Healthcare process for a family member, and they have been excellent throughout.

From the outset, they have provided reassurance, clarity and genuine expertise during what has been an incredibly difficult and emotional time for our family.

We have now had two significant meetings involving social care and nursing professionals, and on both occasions the Compass advocate was calm, professional and completely focused on the evidence.

What impressed me most was how well prepared they were. They had clearly taken the time to understand the individual circumstances and were able, during the assessment itself, to refer to specific sections within a 163-page evidence document without hesitation. They were knowledgeable, well versed in the CHC process and able to make sure the relevant evidence was brought forward at the right time.

Having that level of support took a huge weight off my shoulders. When you are trying to advocate for someone you care about, particularly when their needs and behaviours are escalating, it is very difficult to remain objective and understand what is relevant within what can feel like an overwhelming process.

Compass gave me reassurance that the right evidence was being presented and helped me understand how the process worked.

We have not yet received the final outcome, so I cannot comment on the result. What I can say is that I feel we have given the assessment our best possible shot. The evidence has been provided, the case has been properly presented, and the eventual decision is now outside our control.

Compass is an expensive service, and I don't think that should be glossed over. However, when you consider that the outcome could potentially save a family many thousands of pounds in care costs, and the reassurance and professional representation they provide throughout the process, I believe the value can be significant.

Whatever the eventual outcome, I am very grateful for the support, professionalism and expertise we have received from Compass.

Mya was our Compass Advocate today for our Dad’s checklist assessment and was a credit to the company for her professionalism and compassion. She helped us to get through this stage by being well prepared and conscientious, whilst treading carefully with a very sensitive situation. Thank you Mya.

Invaluable assistance from Compass CHC today with our continuing healthcare application journey. Their prior investigations and evidence gathering was very thorough and Ellie, the advocate assigned to our CHC Checklist meeting was very professional, knowledgeable and 100% prepared for the meeting. She efficiently and expertly filled in all the gaps and more where unfortunately mums care home representative wasn't quite so well prepared or familiar with their own records as Ellie was.
We were already very happy with Compass CHC's initial service, investigations and production of the Stage 1 - Letter of Representations for mum and after reading this through and looking into the complexity of the next steps, we also decided to take up their Advocacy Service. We are so glad that we did.
We really felt fully supported and confident that all mums needs were recorded with accuracy, sensitivity and completeness at the meeting.
We may not have even got this far without their expert help. No matter what the outcome, with Compass CHC expertise and assistance, we will have tried the absolute best that we could to navigate this complex application process for our mum.

I had a discussion before the meeting with the ICB. Ms Cara Brown had a comprehensive knowledge of my wife's health and nursing needs. She explained in detail various elements of our submission to the ICB and what to expect during the Check List meeting which was both helpful and reassuring. Her presentation of my wife's interests was excellent and I could ask for no better representation.

Very helpful and clear information given with empathy and kindness. Thank you

Great support from Cara the Advocate, she was very well prepped and totally understood the situation. Her insights and comments were direct and to the point. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Ellie Murphy was my advocate this morning on our pre-assessment checklist appointment with the care home and NHS, she was absolutely amazing!
She challenged the scoring of each of the elements that were being assessed and ensured that my Mother's voice was heard.
Ellie was professional and very articulate, and if you are in any doubt of utilising a compass advocate during your journey, I would 100% recommend that you do. I wouldn't have received the score we just received alone.

This company charged us over £8,000 for what they described as an assessment of our mother's needs and likelihood of receiving CHC funding. We discovered afterwards that this "assessment tool" is available free of charge and can be conducted by the social worker at the family's request. When we asked them to provide statistics of how many cases they had won as a percentage, particularly for people with dementia they refused to share any statistics with us. They then wanted £5,000 more to progress to the next stage. They get paid the full amount whether you secure the funding or not, so there is absolutely no benefit for them to secure funding for your loved one. They do not liked being asked questions about their statistics and can supply no evidence of their success rates.

Im happy with the guidance from compass (Mya) who was factual and professional during the successful DST assessment. Without legal help I would have struggled with getting a positive result.

Milla's professionalism and compassionate understanding of a very difficult situation was a breath of fresh air.

A very thorough and competent Advocate.
We wouldn't have been able to carry out the process on our own .
Milla conducted the meeting skillfully and brought up points we were unaware of .