Mayor lends a hand at Kent Medical Campus

30th January 2019

The Mayor of Maidstone has helped ensure the latest development at Kent Medical Campus has solid foundations after visiting the site of what will be Care UK’s new care home.

During the visit to the campus, Mayor of Maidstone, Councillor David Naghi helped lay some of the block work for the 75-bed luxury home, which is expected to open in the summer of 2020.

It will provide 24-hour nursing care for up to 75 older people, providing a mix of rehabilitation, respite and dementia care, as well as residential care. It will also offer step-down care for patients who are well enough to leave hospital but not ready to return home, reducing pressure on local wards.

Care UK is one of the largest providers of residential care for older people, operating 119 care homes providing both residential and nursing care, with a further 20 currently being built.

Speaking at the ground breaking, Councillor Naghi, said: “Work being under way for Care UK sends out a very positive message about Maidstone as a place for progressive businesses. It is a further endorsement of our decision to support the vision for Kent Medical Campus and what it means for the borough’s economy.

“We welcome the contribution this much needed home will make to the Campus’s efforts to make Maidstone, as the county’s business capital, an even more attractive location for organisations involved in health, research and education.”

The new home will create around 100 full-time equivalent jobs, with the new employees joining Care UK’s team of 8,000 people who deliver care to more than 7,000 residents every day.

Commenting on the new arrival, Tony Collins, Chairman of Kent Medical Campus, said: “This is another exciting step forward for everybody involved in helping to make Kent Medical Campus the county town’s largest employment location.

“The extent of Care UK’s collaborative business model with the NHS and public sector agencies nationwide is genuinely inspiring and we believe will enable commissioners locally and throughout the county to benefit from the range of services planned for the new facility at Kent Medical Campus.”

Representing Kent Medical Campus during the visit, Gary Watson of property advisers JLL, added: “Care UK is rightly recognised as the country’s leading provider of care and we are delighted they have recognised that the Campus offers the right location and environment, and that it fits perfectly with its position as market leader.

“With the road network improvements due to start during the summer, we are confident that our pipeline of enquiries will be translated into other great names choosing the campus and bringing with them employment opportunities for the people of Maidstone and rest of Kent.”

Work on the groundworks is being undertaken by Maidstone-based Gallagher Group.