Community Outreach Consultancy Limited is a private case management service, providing case management, personal care and support services. The service undertakes assessments, and provides and reviews care and therapeutic services for children and adults who, as a result of medical negligence or personal injury, have suffered brain injury, or other serious medical conditions.

Community Outreach Consultancy Limited case-manages people's care following legal cases for compensation for acquired brain injury. People were often put in touch with the agency through their solicitor. The service could assist people with the legal aspects of litigation and represent them in court as well as helping them manage their care, support and housing needs.

The service coordinates services from an office base in Bisley, Gloucestershire. However, services were provided across a wide geographical area. At the time of this inspection the service provided the regulated activity to one person although the service was supporting 15 other people.

The service had a registered manager, who had been registered with us since 2009. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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. The registered manager was also the registered provider. They were supported by an office administrator.

People were very much involved in designing their own care package with the support of the registered manager. The role of the service was to provide support to the person and their family in navigating the health and social care system. Each package of care was bespoke to the person based on their requirements. Staff worked in partnership with other health professionals and family members to ensure the person’s needs were met. Staff were caring and supported people to lead the life they wanted.

The service could assist with the recruitment, training, supervision and appraisals of staff. Not everyone wanted this service. But where this service was being used, it was evident there were robust systems in place. This ensured suitable staff were employed to support people but also that they received an induction and on going training. This included supporting staff with supervisions and team meetings. A relative told us, “It takes the headache out of caring as all the paperwork and administration is done for you”. This included offering a payroll service on behalf of the person or their deputies under the court of protection.

The registered manager monitored the quality of the care and provided regular updates to the person’s deputy under the court of protection. The service was well led with clear lines of accountability. There was joint working with the person, their family, other health professionals, staff and the deputies of the court of protection.

Because of the specialist nature of the service, this was an announced inspection as part of our planned inspection programme.

We spoke with staff, a family member, a professional and the registered manager. A family member we spoke with said that they felt "fully supported" by Community Outreach Consultancy Limited and the professional we spoke with said they found the service to be "excellent."

We looked at people's individual files which incorporated their personal profile, care plans and risk assessments and found they encompassed the safety and well-being of people who use the service. The family member and staff we spoke with told us that they knew how to raise a concern or complaint and felt confident in doing so. People said if they had any issues they could "talk to the manager."

There were policies and procedures in place providing guidance and all staff had received relevant training which was confirmed by staff we spoke with. We looked at the quality of the service and found the provider had systems and procedures in place to monitor and evaluate the quality of the service provided.

We spoke to family members who told us that they had found staff to be open minded, encouraging and promoted individual independence which was important to them. They also told us that staff were always available to speak to and that they could speak to the manager if they had any concerns.

We found that young people using the service were encouraged to be as independent as possible and were involved with their care plans. Where this was not possible we saw that families were active in identifying and planning the development for their children.

We spoke to staff who told us that felt they were supported by their manager. Staff told us that they received supervision on a monthly basis, meetings were focused on areas of day-day work, training and personal development. Staff reported that they had recently completed their annual appraisal, where NVQ4 training had been identified for later this year.

Staff told us that they felt motivated in their work, enjoyed working closely with families in supporting their children. Staff told us that they felt their roles were to support the individual and family to live a normal life as possible, by providing quality care and support as identified by the family and professionals which is recorded within the person's care plan.

We found that there were arrangements in place to protect children and young people from harm. The provider also had effective systems in place to monitor and review the quality of its services.

Because of the specialist nature of Community Outreach Consultancy Ltd, this was a short notice visit as part of our planned inspection programme.

Three parents had completed feedback forms. One parent told us that "I am fully involved in my son's care and appreciate the availability of the Community Outreach team".

Another parent said "The staff are friendly, professional and caring, I am fully involved and kept fully updated"

A solicitor also commented "I have been struck by the professional and very helpful attitude to us and the family".