Kent Medical Campus steps up to provide step-down care

17th May 2017

Proposals for a 75-bed care home with facilities to provide step-down care for patients well enough to leave hospital but not yet ready to return home, have been submitted to Maidstone Borough Council.

Kent Medical Campus, near junction 7 of the M20, has been identified as the location for the proposed development, which, if permission is granted, would provide 24 hour nursing accommodation for the frail and elderly, providing a mix of rehabilitation, respite and dementia care.

Gary Watson, Director at JLL, the company advising Kent Medical Campus on property matters, said: “The NHS has identified that there is a need for greater step-down care in the local area to reduce delayed discharges back into the community and making it possible to treat more patients.

“With KIMS Hospital, the county’s largest independent hospital already on site, Kent Medical Campus is the ideal location for this important £10m healthcare investment, and a decision is expected later in the summer.”

The proposed 4,200m² building would create more than 100 full-time equivalent jobs.

The new facilities will form an integral part of the care services and pathways that will be developed within the Campus. This proposed development will contribute significantly to the local health and social care economy. It will be one of many new additions as part of Kent Medical Campus’s existing permission to develop 98,000m² of floor space resulting in a centre of excellence for health, science and education for the borough and county as whole.

The proposals were submitted after the landowners and team worked closely with the cross-party Kent Medical Campus monitoring committee at Maidstone Borough Council.

As well as being home to KIMS Hospital, construction is under way on a 64-bed hospital for Cygnet Health Care, one of the UK’s largest independent providers of mental health support, following a £1.5m investment in a new link road.

It was recently announced that Kent Medical Campus is now part of the North Kent Enterprise Zone, which also includes Rochester Airport Technology Park, and a number of sites within Ebbsfleet Garden City. It is able to offer business rates discounts of up to £55,000 per year for five years for companies that locate within the Enterprise Zone by 31 March 2022.\

For information on Kent Medical Campus and its Enterprise Zone status visit www.kentmedicalcampus.com

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