Tunbridge Wells Hospital is a large district general hospital in Pembury near

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. The hospital is located on Tonbridge Road, around to the north-west of Pembury, close to the A21 trunk road. It is surrounded by woodland on three sides.

History

Admin building, Pembury Hospital - geograph

The original hospital on the site was a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

designed by John Whichcord to accommodate 400 people which opened in 1836. Additional facilities included an isolation block added in 1838, a new clinical block in 1856, a chapel and a school in 1870, an entrance block in 1872 and an extension in 1890. The facility became known as Pembury County Hospital in 1938 and it joined the

National Health Service 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 " ...

in 1948. The musician,

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGo ...

, was born in the hospital in 1957 and the athlete,

Dame Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set British ...

, was born there in 1970. After services had transferred to the new Tunbridge Wells Hospital, all the hospital buildings, other than the chapel, were demolished in September 2011. A new hospital was procured under a

Private Finance Initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

contract to replace both the Pembury County Hospital and the

Kent and Sussex Hospital The Kent and Sussex Hospital was a district general hospital located on Mount Ephraim in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England serving the West Kent and East Sussex areas. It was managed by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust until it clos ...

. The new hospital was designed by Anshen & Allen and built by

Laing O'Rourke Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, England. It was founded in 1978 by Ray O'Rourke. It is the largest privately owned construction company in the United Kingdom. History The company was founded by ...

at a cost of £230 million. The first phase of the new hospital, on which construction started in 2008, opened in January 2011; the rest of the hospital opened on 21 September 2011 at which time all services were transferred from the

. The new hospital was denied a "Royal" prefix as though it serves Royal Tunbridge Wells, it is not located within the town's boundaries. Facilities management services are provided by Interserve.

Facilities

The new hospital has 512 beds and provides a full range of clinical services including an

Accident and Emergency An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

department. The first department to transfer to the new hospital was the

maternity ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

department, with the first baby being born in the new unit in January 2011. Every inpatient has their own room with en-suite facilities, with ceiling to floor windows revealing views over surrounding woodland. The maternity unit sees nearly 100 babies born every week and the A&E department treats 50,000 patients every year.

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 2011 Hospitals in Kent Hospitals established in 1836 Buildings and structures in Royal Tunbridge Wells

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links