Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is a large acute hospital trust providing a full range of general hospital services and a range of specialist care. The Trust has three main hospitals – Maidstone, Pembury and Kent and Sussex, which is based in Tunbridge Wells.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells is currently designing a new $450 million, 700,000 sq ft, district general hospital with trauma center. Providing a therapeutic environment has been considered from the outset, taking into account the unique setting of the new hospital. This will be the first NHS Trust general hospital with all single patient rooms. The majority of patient rooms will have woodland views and are designed to maximize sunlight exposure. Patient and visitor accessibility will also be improved with color and form to support wayfinding, a ramp-free environment for visitors, and parking and entrance at Level 0.

Publications:

• Penfold, C. (2010). Integrating information and communication technologies to support care delivery in the single-room ward environment. Healthcare Design, 10(10), 16–16,18,21,23.  “A challenge for the Trust has been the groundbreaking nature of the new hospital development and the lack of similar facilities in the United Kingdom to learn from, especially in relation to the use of mobile communications technology. Therefore, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has turned to Pebble Partner providers in the United States and Canada to find out how they have used information and communication technologies (ICT) to support communication and assure patient safety in the single-room inpatient unit environment.”