The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Dr Kent and Partners

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

The Health Centre, Park Road, Tarporley, Cheshire, CW6 0BE (01829) 733456

Provided and run by:
Dr Kent and Partners

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 22 May 2026. Dr Campbell and Partners Tarporley Health Centre is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 8,160 people under a contract held with NHS England. There are 2 branch sites, Tarvin Health Centre and Waverton Surgery. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 96.9% White, 1.1% Asian, 1.3% Mixed, 0.4% Black and 0.3% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 10th decile (10 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the service population is relative to others.

This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection well and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience but the process to monitor and track compliance with recruitment was not always effective.

Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.

Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.

People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the service and sought ways to address any barriers.

The service had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used the service and the wider community. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders were accountable for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through established governance processes; however, these were not always fully effective in ensuring that all required actions were consistently completed and evidenced.

15 and 22 November 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Campbell & Partners Tarporley Health Centre on 15 and 22 November 2016.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example, the practice ensured equipment was checked to ensure it was safe to use and there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet the needs of patients.
  • Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Staff spoken with knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns.
  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
  • Staff told us they felt well supported. They received an annual appraisal and had access to the training they needed for their roles.
  • Patients were overall positive about the care and treatment they received from the practice. The National Patient Survey July 2016 showed that patients’ responses about whether they were treated with respect, compassion and involved in decisions about their care and treatment were comparable to local and national averages.
  • Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.

  • The National GP Patient Survey results showed that patient’s satisfaction with access to care and treatment was generally in line with local and national averages.

  • Information about how to complain was available. There was a system in place to manage complaints.
  • There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Involve the wider staff team in discussions about the actions to be taken following significant events and record annual reviews of significant events to demonstrate that actions taken were effective and any trends have been appropriately identified and addressed.
  • Review the management of vaccine fridges to ensure staff are adhering to the protocol for the safe management of vaccines.

  • The security of prescriptions should be reviewed as some were left in printers in rooms which were not locked.

  • Checks of controlled drugs should be performed by two staff members to reduce the risks of mishandling or significant events remaining unnoticed.

  • A clear process to follow for identifying a person collecting a prescription on behalf of a patient should be introduced.

  • Medication at the Waverton branch should be passed to patients through the reception window to improve medication security.

  • The system for ensuring staff receive regular training updates should be improved.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

15 April 2014

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Our inspection of 14th November 2013 and 19th November 2013 found that improvements were needed to the staff recruitment procedure and practices to ensure patients received care and treatment from staff who were suitable for their role. Improvements were also needed to the recording, handling and safe keeping of medication to ensure patients were protected against the risks associated with medicines. We carried out this visit to ensure these improvements had been made. We found that appropriate action had been taken.

14, 19 November 2013

During a routine inspection

We visited the Tarporley Health Centre during this inspection and did not visit the branch health centres.

We spoke with four patients following our visit who told us they were happy with the consultations they had with their GP. They said they had time to discuss their concerns during the consultation and that treatment, tests and test results were explained to them. Three of the four people we spoke with said that they had experienced a problem trying to get an appointment. There had also been some complaints about making appointments. We found action had been taken by the manager of the service to address this.

We found that patients were respected and involved in the service provided to them. There were practices in place to ensure patients experienced care and treatment that met their needs.

We found there were safeguards in place to ensure children and vulnerable adults were protected from abuse.

We found improvements were needed to the management of medication in order to fully safeguard patients.

We also found that improvements were needed to the systems in place to assess the suitability of staff for their role.