Staff at Maidstone Hospital are looking forward to the opening of a new purpose-built Acute Assessment Unit in January.

The unit will comprise a ward with a floorspace of 1,400m2, sited next to, and accessed via, the hospital’s Emergency Department.

It will take patients with urgent medical and surgical conditions who have been referred by their GP or the emergency department to undergo further assessment.

Once completed, the unit, which will house 14-short stay beds, eight assessment beds and a treatment suite comprising three separate treatment rooms, and will be open to admissions seven days a week until 8pm and will be operational 24-hours a day.

When a patient arrives on the short stay ward, they will be assessed by a nurse and observations and investigations will be carried out before they are seen by a doctor who will plan the diagnosis and treatment.

The new unit is costing £8m and arrived in prefabricated form. Installation is now complete and it is currently being fitted out.

The chief of service for medicine and emergency care, Dr Laurence Maiden, said: “Building this state-of-the-art, dedicated assessment unit means we can care for our emergency patients in a fit-for-purpose, modern environment, with improved dignity and privacy, and access to the Emergency Department).

“Importantly, it allows us to build on the excellent work we’ve been implementing across the trust to ensure patients receive rapid access to the right care and treatment by ensuring they are seen by the right people in the right place so they can return home quickly and safely.”

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