Darent Valley Hospital

Darent Valley Hospital
Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust
Geography
Location	Dartford, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°26′6″N 0°15′30″E / 51.435°N 0.25833°E / 51.435; 0.25833Coordinates: 51°26′6″N 0°15′30″E / 51.435°N 0.25833°E / 51.435; 0.25833
Organisation
Care system	NHS
Hospital type	District General
Affiliated university	None
Services
Emergency department	Yes Accident & Emergency
Beds	478
History
Founded	2000
Links
Website	http://www.dvh.nhs.uk
Lists	Hospitals in the United Kingdom

Darent Valley Hospital is a 478 bed, acute district general hospital in Dartford, Kent, England.

The hospital has an Emergency Department alongside an Urgent Care Centre.

The hospital is run by the Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust with an annual budget of about £121 million,^[1] and employs 1,900 staff.

History

Main article: Darenth Park Hospital

The hospital stands on the site of the former Darenth Park Hospital, originally founded by the Metropolitan Asylums Board as "Darenth School" in 1878. The Regional Health Board agreed to close Darenth in 1973, but the last patients did not leave until 1988. The vast Victorian complex was then demolished.

The new buildings were the first hospital to be procured under a Private Finance Initiative Contract.^[2] They were designed by Nightingale Paulley Associates and built by Carillion. The new hospital opened in September 2000, to replace the services previously provided at West Hill Hospital, Dartford and Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford. On 2 January 2007, a new on-site Heart Centre was opened.

References

1. ^ Darent Valley Hospital: About us
2. ^ National Audit Office Report published 1999.