I contacted Compass after seeing their TV adverts as my mum has advanced Alzheimers & we're currently paying over £5.5k a month in care home fees since February 2023.
The person I spoke to asked in depth questions about my mum's condition, obviously going through all the domains. I was advised that my mum definitely qualified for NHS CHC funding, so even though the costs seemed high, it did only represent approximately 1 month's care home fees. I was told about the successful cases that had been won & I was also told that they only take on cases that they are confident in winning. On that basis I decided to proceed with using Compass. Their contact with me was at all times extremely professional & efficient. I note some reviewers have not been happy with having to email Compass rather than being able to speak to an advisor, but for me, the response times were very good, often within 1 to 2 days and always a full & helpful response. Compass had to continually chase for my mum's care home records over a number of months but once they were received, they very quickly provided a full 60+ page, comprehensive report, far beyond anything I could have done.
I believe that I then spoke to the same person at Compass from my initial conversation & he stated that he didn't think he'd ever seen a report where the needs had scored so highly, further leading me to believe that my mother should definitely qualify for funding.
I decided to appoint a Compass advocate to represent us in order to achieve the best outcome.
As other reviewers have stated, I did find it strange that there is no consistency with the advocates that are appointed for each meeting. However, in each case, the advocates were cool, calm & extremely knowledgeable about the whole process. During the MDT meeting, the advocate was very firm in delivering her interpretation of my mum's needs in each domain.
Unfortunately though, we have been advised by the ICB that my mum does not qualify for funding. To say that I'm disappointed is a huge understatement. I wish I'd done more research and discovered how much a postcode lottery it is and how very few applications actually are successful in being granted CHC funding.
Whilst Compass are very professional & clearly are experts in the field, I believe that they should do far more to manage their client's expectations and to make it clear that a very small percentage of applications will be successful. The NHS is very strapped for cash, so I fear it will only get worse & they will be doing more to protect that purse.
My advice to anyone is to only proceed if you can afford to lose the approx £11k fees.
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