Compton Care Group Limited

Updated 30 December 2019

Compton Care is operated by Compton Group Ltd. The service opened in 1983 and is predominantly a charity funded organisation with some additional NHS funding.

The service has undergone recent changes including a change of name. The service primarily serves the communities of the Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall and South Staffordshire. It also accepts patient referrals from outside this area.

The registered manager resigned on 31 March 2019. The Head of Quality and Compliance was acting manager at the time of the inspection and has since applied to be the registered manager.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

Diagnostic and screening procedures

Treatment of disease disorder or injury

Compton Care was last inspected on 20 April 2016 and was rated good in all domains and good overall. We have inspected the service four times, on each occasion the required standards were met.

Updated 30 December 2019

Compton Care is operated by Compton Care Group Ltd. Compton Care provides specialist palliative care and support services for inpatients, outpatients and community care to people aged 18 years old and above. Services provided included:

An 18 bedded inpatient unit, which includes single rooms with en-suite facilities,

A lymphoedema care centre,

A bereavement care service,

A day therapies centre based at the Compton Hall site.

Most of the care is provided in the community within patient’s homes, care homes and prisons by a combined community service including a community specialist nursing team.

On-call palliative medicine advice is available 24 hours a day seven days a week to healthcare professionals who may be either in the community or in hospital within Wolverhampton, Dudley and Walsall.

Compton Care at Home provides practical support for end of life patients and their loved ones. A new rapid response service was in the early stages of implementation.

A range of social, physical, psychological and spiritual services provide a holistic experience for patients and psychological support is also extended to their carers and families.

We inspected all services provided by the service.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We visited unannounced on the 15 October 2019 followed by announced visits carried out on 16 and 17 October 2019.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Services we rate

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as Good overall.

• Staff provided exceptional care and compassion and ensured patients privacy and dignity was maintained at all times.

• The service made sure staff were competent for their roles. The continuing development of the staff’s skills, competence and knowledge was recognised as being integral to ensuring high-quality care. Staff were proactively supported and encouraged to acquire new skills, use their transferable skills, and share best practice. Volunteers were proactively recruited and were supported in their role. The use of volunteers helped to measurably improve outcomes for people.

• Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals worked collaboratively as a team to benefit patients and had found innovative and efficient ways to deliver more joined-up care to people who use services. They supported each other to provide good care.

• The service planned and provided innovative approaches care, providing integrated person-centred pathways of care that involved other service providers, particularly for people with multiple and complex needs.

• The service had a proactive approach to understanding the needs and preferences of different groups of people and to planning and delivering care in a way that met their needs, which was accessible and promoted equality. They proactively coordinated care with other services and providers. Staff supported patients to make informed decisions about their care and treatment. They knew how to support patients who lacked capacity to make their own decisions or were experiencing mental ill health Staff provided exceptional care and compassion and ensured patients privacy and dignity were maintained at all times. People were truly respected and valued as individuals and were empowered as active partners in their care, practically and emotionally, by an exceptional and distinctive service.

• The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and a strategy plan which was stretching, challenging and innovative, while remaining achievable and was developed with all relevant stakeholders. The vision and strategy were focused on sustainability of services and aligned to local plans within the wider health economy and there was a demonstrated commitment to system-wide collaboration and leadership.

• There was a fully embedded and systematic approach to improvement, which made consistent use of a recognised improvement methodology. Improvement was the way to deal with performance and for the organisation to learn. Improvement methods and skills were available and used across the organisation, and staff were empowered to lead and deliver change. There was a strong record of sharing work locally, nationally and internationally.

• Leaders and staff actively and openly engaged with patients, staff, equality groups, the public and local organisations to plan and manage services. They collaborated with partner organisations to help improve services for patients. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. The service promoted equality and diversity in daily work and provided opportunities for career development. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear.

• Leaders had the skills and abilities to run the service. They understood and managed the priorities and issues the service faced. They were visible and approachable in the service for patients and staff. They supported staff to develop their skills and take on more senior roles.

• Leaders operated effective governance processes, throughout the service and with partner organisations. Staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities and had regular opportunities to meet, discuss and learn from the performance of the service.

However

• Improved arrangements were needed to provide assurance of effective staff hand washing and identification of infections to protect patients, staff and others from the risk of infection.

• Not all required staff had safeguarding children level 3 training although systems were in place to address this.

• No safety thermometer or equivalent was displayed although there were plans in place to actively share this information with staff, patients and visitors.

Heidi Smoult

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Updated 30 December 2019

We rated Compton Care as good overall, we rated the safe, caring and well led domains as good and responsive domain as outstanding.