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Countdown to new hospital

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 09:51, 11 September 2011

Jeanette Rooke, in the new hospital's special care baby unit

There is just under two weeks to go until a groundbreaking new NHS hospital opens.

The new Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury, replaces the old Pembury Hospital and the Kent and Sussex in Tunbridge Wells.

Some services are already up and running there, but from Wednesday, September 21, the £234million hospital will be fully up and running.

The Tunbridge Wells hospital will be the first all-single room NHS hospital in England, and has the latest in medical technology installed but its opening will mean sweeping changes at Maidstone Hospital.

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From Thursday, September 22, women will no longer give birth at Maidstone Hospital.

Instead, a midwife-led birthing unit will be set up. The birthing unit will handle routine deliveries, but women who experience complications will have to be transferred.

The changes saw a campaign created in Maidstone to keep full birth services at Maidstone, which was eventually rejected by health secretary Andrew Lansley.

Children will be treated for emergencies and illnesses at Maidstone between 9am and 9pm, but the any child requiring an overnight stay will need to go to the new hospital at Pembury.

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