Tarporley hospital has ambitions to go from 'good' to 'outstanding'

A village hospital which has been told it needs to make improvements has said it is working with the Care Quality Commission to succeed in its ambition to become an ‘outstanding’ facility.

Although Care Quality Commission inspectors say caring is ‘Good’ at Tarporley War Memorial Hospital, following a three day inspection, their report said the safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and management of the hospital require improvement. Community health inpatient services at Park Road also require improvement.

But hospital director Karin Daelemans says the CQC inspection came at a time of a state of flux when she was taking up her new role and there was a change in matrons so improvements in the areas highlighted in the report were already under way.

Ms Daelemans said: “Although the findings of the report show that we require improvement in four out of five areas, we are very pleased that the hospital’s caring rating is ‘Good’.

“We accept the findings within the report, but would like to reassure our patients and their relatives, the community, our donors and supporters that our patients are safe and are being well-cared for.

“We are working with the CQC, using their report to identify further areas for improvement whilst ensuring we retain the essence of what makes us such a special community hospital.

“The inspection came at a time of flux for the hospital, with a newly appointed hospital director and a change in matrons. Whilst we had started to modernise our processes, they had not had a chance to embed when inspectors visited the hospital, so they were unfortunately unable to recognise them as official improvements.

“We are confident that when the inspectors return for their next visit that it will be a different story – our ambition is to improve our overall rating not just to ‘Good’ but to ‘Outstanding’.

“We are very proud of the many improvements our hospital has already made and are dedicated to serving the people of Tarporley and the wider rural area with the care, compassion and unique service that we are well known for.

“Should any individuals wish to discuss the latest report with us, or raise any concerns, my door is always open and they are welcome to contact the hospital to organise a meeting or a phone conversation.”