Work begins on £18m hospital at Kent Medical Campus

26th January 2017

Work has got under way on a 65 bed hospital at Kent Medical Campus in Maidstone, following the completion of a new £1.5m access road.

The new road has enabled Cygnet Health Care, one of the UK’s largest independent providers of mental health, to begin the construction on its £18m investment.

Mark Scally, Operations Director at Cygnet Health Care, said: “The company has a long track-record of working in partnership with the NHS and we hope the creation of this new hospital will help to ease pressure on the need for specialist mental health provision in Kent, and help reduce the need for people to receive inpatient treatment and support away from their home area.

“This new service will help people receive the treatment and support they need closer to home and maintain important links with their families and friends, which can assist greatly with recovery.”

Lee Hammon, Commercial Director at Cygnet Health Care, said: “We are excited to enhance our national network of services and open our second facility within the county of Kent.

“Cygnet Hospital Maidstone has been developed following extensive feedback from a variety of our NHS customers and we look forward to refining the service model alongside our customers over the next six months, and to providing a much-needed service for the benefit of the local and regional community.”

Kent Medical Campus will officially become an Enterprise Zone in April 2017 after it was granted the status by the Government. With the status offering financial incentives for businesses moving to the site, the team responsible for promoting it to would-be tenants has seen a considerable rise in interest.

Gary Watson of JLL, said: “It’s great to see Cygnet getting started on its new flagship development for Kent and the South East. The completion of the second spine road opens up the site and will enable us to attract other companies. The road, and arrival of Cygnet Health Care, are important steps on our journey to creating a home for 4,000 people to work and making Kent Medical Campus a place for forward-thinking businesses in health, science and education.”

The work on the second (330m) access road was completed in less than 6 months and it now runs from Newnham Court Way to the far side of the Kent Medical Campus site.

Councillor Fran Wilson, Leader of Maidstone Borough Council, said: “The Kent Medical Campus represents one of Maidstone’s key employment assets.  With the creation of thousands of highly skilled and well paid jobs over the next 10 years and its status as an Enterprise Zone it will play a vital role in the borough’s Economic Development Strategy. 

“Whilst economic growth is undoubtedly important I am particularly pleased that a new state of the art Mental Health facility is being brought to Maidstone which will provide much needed expertise and support to the borough.”

The road links from the existing road which serves KIMS Hospital, the 92 bed independent hospital employing more than 300 clinicians, nursing staff and management, and which was the first phase of Kent Medical Campus.

When complete, the 30-acre Kent Medical Campus site will provide 98,000m² of accommodation for medical and life‐science companies, specialist residential and rehabilitation care, with the aspiration for higher education level training facilities for the medical and healthcare professions.

As well as major healthcare organisations, such as KIMS Hospital and Cygnet Health Care, Kent Medical Campus has also attracted interest from biotech and medtech start-up businesses, academic institutions, as well as other health and social care providers. When these health-related businesses are clustered together, Kent Medical Campus will become an important centre for the provision of primary, secondary and tertiary care in Kent, alongside science-based businesses and education-related organisations.

For more information, contact Andrew Metcalf or Andy Rayfield, 01892 513033