Medway Maritime Hospital is a general hospital in Gillingham, England within the

NHS South East Coast NHS South East Coast was a strategic health authority of the National Health Service in England. It operated in the South East region, along with NHS South Central, providing coterminosity with the local government office region. History NHS So ...

. It is run by

Medway NHS Foundation Trust Medway NHS Trust is an NHS foundation trust based in Kent which runs Medway Maritime Hospital. History The trust was established as Medway NHS Trust on 1 November 1993, and became operational on 1 April 1994. A proposed merger with Dartford a ...

. It is

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

's largest and busiest hospital, dealing with around 400,000 patients annually. It was founded as the

Royal Naval Hospital A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were p ...

in 1902 for the Naval personnel at the

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...

. The hospital was where the

Piano Man Piano Man refers to a male pianist. Piano Man may also refer to: Music * ''Piano Man'' (Billy Joel album), a 1973 rock album by Billy Joel ** "Piano Man" (song), a 1973 song from the album * ''Piano Man'' (Hilton Ruiz album), 1975 * ''Piano Man'' ...

was taken after being found wandering in a soaking wet suit and tie.

History

Bus Stop, Medway Maritime Hospital - geograph

The hospital was built as a replacement

for the 252 bed Melville Hospital (Naval), which was not large enough to deal with the increasing numbers of Naval personnel moving into Chatham; it was opened by

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

on 26 July 1905. At that time the main corridor was almost 1,000 feet long. The hospital's large

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed water tower, which acts as a local landmark over Gillingham, was built around the same time. On 15 January 1961 the hospital was transferred by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

to the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

and became part of the Medway Health Authority. The hospital closed for modernisation, and after some delays, opened again in 1965 under the name "Medway Hospital". After a £60 million development in 1999, the hospital changed its name to "Medway Maritime Hospital" and services were transferred from neighbouring hospitals St Bartholomew's in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

and All Saints' in

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

Services

Medway Maritime Hospital has 588 beds in 29 wards under five main departments: accident and emergency, adult medicine, surgery and anaesthetics, children and women, clinical support services. Under an ongoing and regularly updated NHS survey, the quality of service is regarded as "fair", with 96% of patients waiting less than 18 weeks for treatment. The hospital is run by the

, one of four hospital trusts in

. The trust employs over 3,500 staff. The trust's main focus is running the Medway Maritime Hospital. Emergency and elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs were moved from the hospital to

Kent and Canterbury Hospital The Kent and Canterbury Hospital, colloquially known among residents as the K+C, is a community hospital in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is managed by the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. History After a suitable site on land ...

in February 2020 because of staff shortages.

Hospital Radio Medway

Medway Hospital Radio was formed in 1970. The radio station has over 45 volunteers and 2 broadcast studios located in the basement of the hospital. It broadcasts to all the wards in the hospital. The radio station officially went live on the Hospital website at the end of 2017. All hospicoms in the wards within the building have now been removed as of 2018. WiFi has now been installed in the hospital for the use of the public.

The Piano Man

An unidentified man who became known as "Piano Man" was treated at Medway Hospital during April 2005. The man was found wandering the streets in

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

, wearing a soaking wet suit and tie. Despite many attempts to communicate with him, he remained silent. When given a pen and paper he drew a grand piano. When taken to a piano in the hospital chapel, it was reported he played classical music non-stop for four hours, however this was not the case as hospital staff afterwards stated he just played with the piano like someone with no training. After four months he revealed his identity as Andreas Grassl from Bavaria, and he returned home.

References

External links

Trust website

Medway Maritime Hospital on the NHS website

Inspection reports
from the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...