- Maidstone Hospital
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Maidstone Hospital Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust 
Maidstone Hospital Geography Location Barming, Maidstone, Kent, England, United Kingdom Coordinates 51°16′26″N 0°29′00″E / 51.274°N 0.4832°ECoordinates: 51°16′26″N 0°29′00″E / 51.274°N 0.4832°E Organisation Care system Public NHS Links Website http://www.mtw.nhs.uk/your-visit/maidstone2.asp Lists Hospitals in England Maidstone Hospital (officially known as Maidstone District General Hospital) is a hospital in Barming, Maidstone, England. It is managed by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Contents
History
The hospital opened in 1983 on a greenfield site adjacent to the now defunct Oakwood Hospital with the intention of replacing the general and accident and emergency services of the ageing West Kent hospital in Marsham Street Maidstone. The development includes a landing pad for the Kent Air Ambulance.
Extra wings have been added since the hospital opened, including a self-contained orthopaedic unit and new Eye, Ear and Mouth Unit in 2003 (replacing the Ear, Nose and Throat clinic that was based at Maidstone Ophthalmic Hospital (now closed) in Maidstone town centre) and the Peggy Wood Breast Care Centre in 2004[1].
The Kent Oncology Centre is partly housed on this site. The specialist centre provides cancer services for the whole of Kent and also Hastings and Rother. The hospital also has a £2m Emergency Care Centre, which was one of the first of its kind in the country to offer full A&E services, a GP out-of-hours service and a walk-in centre under one roof.
The hospital has appeared in the nationally recognised 40 Top Hospitals programme for four years running for its high standards of clinical care.[2]
Superbug Outbreak
In 2007, the local NHS trust and Maidstone Hospital were involved in a scandal when 90 patients at the hospital died as a direct result of contracting the superbug c-diff in an outbreak that began in 2006. A subsequent investigation found these infections to be the result of dirty and overcrowded conditions at the hospital.
The report also revealed that the outbreak contributed to a further 240 deaths and more than 1,150 people were ultimately infected.[3]
As a result of this, the chief executive of the NHS trust, Rose Gibb, left her post by “mutual agreement” prior to publication of the investigation's findings. Further controversy arose when the Department of Health subsequently blocked a £175,000 severance payment to Ms Gibb after a public outcry. Following a protracted legal wrangle, the High Court upheld the Department of Health's decision and denied the payment.[4][5] [6] However this decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal which re-awarded the payment.[7]
Notes
- ^ http://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/pages/hospital.aspx?id=nt701
- ^ http://www.drfosterhealth.co.uk/hospital-guide/hospital/nhs/Maidstone-Hospital-395.aspx
- ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba10d436-3457-11de-9eea-00144feabdc0.html
- ^ Lois Rogers and Steven Swinford (2007-10-14). "Now wash your hands (and bedpans, and floors...)". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article2652921.ece.
- ^ Kline, Roger (2009-04-29). "Time to make a noise in support of the whistleblowers". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/apr/24/whistleblowers-culture-challenge.
- ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iVukbFuZXj-D2JIFRzkjytsPyDQA
- ^ "Kent bug scandal NHS boss awarded damages". BBC News. 24 June 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/10400486.stm. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
External links
Categories:- NHS hospitals
- Hospitals in Kent
- Maidstone (borough)
- United Kingdom hospital stubs
- United Kingdom medical organisation stubs
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