November saw the new Emergency Department building at Medway Maritime Hospital open its doors to admit new patients, just in time for the winter period.

The new building houses a range of newly built, state-of-the-art facilities that will support the Trust’s award-winning Emergency Department team to deliver the best of care to our most unwell patients.

The new A&E now houses seven new resuscitation bays, including dedicated bays for child patients and four Rapid Assessment Area bays, where a dedicated, consultant-led team will review patients who come to the department by ambulance to provide faster diagnosis. In addition there are now four newly-built ‘majors’ bays to treat both ambulance and walk-in patients, bringing the total majors capacity for the department to 16 bays.

All of the new areas have been fitted out with latest equipment available and all areas have been finished to the highest build standards thanks to the hard work of the Trust’s estates and facilities team.

Following the opening, Kelly Tolhurst MP said,

“These crucial improvements to our A&E unit is fantastic news for local residents and patients who rely on Medway Maritime Hospital when an emergency occurs.

“Medway has a number of challenges ahead such as a booming population, we therefore need the best of the best to ensure local people are reassured that they will receive the best possible care and services.

“Our Hospital has made huge improvements under Lesley Dwyer having come out of great difficulties just years ago, so I am pleased to give my unremitting support to its new chief, James Devine, as we take our progress to the next level.”

The new building has cost £11.5million, while overall cost of the entire Emergency Department project, which includes both the new building and the future refurbishment, is £21million. Further refurbishment works to the existing emergency department space are planned for 2019 and 2020.