HEALTH Secretary Alan Milburn will perform the topping-out ceremony at Maidstone Hospital's new Eye, Ear and Mouth Unit on Friday.

Work on the £11.3m unit at the hospital in Hermitage Lane started last October with completion set for January 2003.

Mr Milburn will add the final roof tile to the building, which will replace the Kent County Ophthalmic and Aural Hospital in Maidstone town centre.

The new 40,000 sq ft unit is being built on two floors and will link into the main hospital. It will have two theatres, a recovery area, support suite, 12-bed ward and a range of other facilities.

Anne Chapman, chairman of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said: "This really is a special day for us. There had been talk of a new unit for decades and I know many staff were sceptical that it would ever be built.

"Now everyone can see for themselves the rate at which the building has shot up."

The old ophthalmic hospital in Church Street will be sold off and the money will help pay for the new unit.