THE first NHS hospital to offer every patient their own en-suite room has been unveiled.

Work could start on preparing the site for the new Pembury Hospital in September with construction work earmarked to begin early in 2008 if the project wins government funding and planning permission from borough councillors.

Rose Gibb, chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust which is leading the £225million project, said the 512-bed building would be a benchmark in how the NHS builds hospitals.

With each patient having their own room and en-suite bathroom, the hospital has been designed to combat and control the spread of infections.

She said: "I think it's great. It is an innovative scheme that makes full use of of site. It is a hospital within woodland."

She said of problems with the exsiting road network: "The health and local authorities have to begin to talk about how we can improve the infrastructure, to make it more accessible and to have better transport links."

The new five-storey hospital, to be built on land below the current Pembury Hospital, could be open in 2010-11.

Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark (Con) described the hospital as a "fantastic building". But he added: "It's my job to make sure that Ministers don't renege on their promises."