Hospital dispenses with gel on entry
Round-up of medical and care matters around the County Town Continued from page one
Volunteer service to be axed
costs hundreds of thousands of pounds and is not now affordable. Mr Walters, of Charing and for-
GEL dispensers are to be removed from all entrances at Maid- stone Hospital. Dr Sara Mumford, director of infection prevention and con-
trol at Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS Trust, said the decision wasmade after research suggested that good hand hygiene at the patient’s bedside (or point of care) is the bestway of preventing infection. She added: “The gel dispensers at the entrances to our hospi-
tals have been used well by staff, patients and visitors alike. However, we have found that they can distract people from using the gel at the bedside. So we are going to remove the gel from the entrances to our hospitals and focus hand hygiene where it will do most good and that is in the clinical areas and at the patient’s bedside. “For several years we have ensured that there is hand clean-
ing gel at the foot of every bed and that there are gels and wash hand basins easily available in clinical areas so that they are as close as possible to the patient.” There are over 300 gel dispensers atMaidstone Hospital. Staff, patients and visitors will find the gels in the following areas: Attached to the bottom of each bed At the entrance to allwards and departments, including clin-
ics, arrival lounge, discharge lounge, X-ray and therapies Outside food outlets and shops Where people wait – eg by a lift Work is ongoing to improve the number of hand wash basins
and there will be an increase in the number of signs and mes- sages about the importance of hand hygiene.
Chronic unit makes return
THE Chronic Pain Unit re- turned to Maidstone Hospital from September 26. It was controversially re- moved from the hospital without public consultation during the years Rose Gibb was chief executive causing deep concern for patients having to make a journey of up to 20 miles for treatment at Pembury. Many travelled to- gether in volunteer driver cars, meaning each-way jour- neys of 90 minutes or more, often in cramped conditions. MASH (Maidstone Action
for Services in Hospital) led the campaign to restore the service – and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust board agreed it would come back as women’s and chil- dren’s services were trans-
Will campaign
HEART of Kent Hospice, which next year celebrates its 21st anniversary, has launched a campaign to en- courage more people to think of it in their wills. A spokesman said: “Thanks to the very generous support of our community we have been able to sustain and expand this vital com- munity service. However, with the current economic downturn, raising the £3.6m we need is a challenge. Gifts in wills – or legacies – have formed a vital part of funding. “We want more people to
think about our hospice when writing their wills to ensurewewill be here for the next 21 years.”
28 East
ferred from Maidstone to Pembury in September. That promise is now being
met and the unit is being lo- cated initially in the vacated maternity unit. Out-patient services will
also be offered at the new hos- pital at Pembury and at Sevenoaks. All day-case op- erating theatre sessions will be at Maidstone. Dennis Fowle, chairman of MASH, said: “This is excel- lent news. We are losing much – but this is a signifi- cant, much-needed gain.”
‘Surreal’ skydive to fund Trust
A MAIDSTONE charity’s chief ex- ecutive and a colleague did a sky- dive to raise much-needed funds. Jan Prior described the tandem jump at Headcorn as "surreal"
End of cancer treatmemt centre
THE Mid Kent Treatment Centre in Maidstone Hospital, used by many cancer patients requiring chemother- apy, is to close in November. But the hospital trust sees this as
an opportunity to bring new services in to the space vacated. The centre has been run for the Pri-
mary Care Trust by an independent company, Care UK, for five years and has handled almost 40,000
A PLANNING application has been submitted to build a first-floor ex- tension to create eight new self-con- tained bedrooms at Mont Calm Residential Home in 74 Bower Mount Road, Maidstone. According to applicant Michael
Lisis’ design statement: “With the in- creasing demands on residential care homes there is a need to provide additional bed spaces. Using exist- ing facilities is themost economical solution in terms of the use of sites. “This particular site benefits from a relatively large plot of land but
chemotherapy treatments and 35,000 day cases. But the NHS sees a saving and be-
lieves there is sufficient alternative capacity within the hospital trust, with chemotherapy provided mainly in the nearby ward. “It’s a big building so there is plenty of opportunity to commission something good,” said a trust spokesman.
Residential home plans for more bedrooms
over the years successive extensions and alterations have led to an un- economical use of the space avail- able. In particular the single-storey rear extension is an ideal area to cre- ate additional usable floor space at first-floor level. “The extra rooms have an impact
on the amount of day space required so the existingday space is extended to the rear of the existing kitchen area. The actual increased floor space is 249 sqmincluding the bed- rooms, day space and circulation space.”
while John Forrester, a baker at the Blackthorn Trust, enjoyed it so much he said he would happily do it again. Anyonewishing to support their hair-raising exploits can go to
www.virginmoney-
giving.com or by sending a cheque payable to BlackthornTrustatStAn- drews Road, ME16 9AN. Blackthorn Garden and
Cafe is a social enterprise raising funds to help sup- port the work of the char- ity, which offers medical care, specialist therapies and rehabilitation through work placements.
Child area opens THE new children’s unit, opened inMaidstone Hos- pital on September 22, has been named ‘River- bank’. It replaces the children’s
ward when full paediatric services are switched 17 miles away to Pembury. The short-stay assess-
ment unit and outpatient department will only open 9am to 9pm, Mon- days to Fridays.
Have you got news for us? Phone our News Desk on 01622 734735
merly of the village of Leeds, pro- vides the voluntary service and knows how vital it is to patients coming to Maidstone from areas such as Thanet, Canterbury, Ash- ford,RomneyMarsh, Dartford,Tun- bridgeWells as well as from within the Maidstone area. “Most of the patients are elderly
and many infirm,” he said. “The service is vital to them, especially when they are feeling weak after treatments. What is going to hap- pen?”
Downs Mail understands many
are cancer patients attending Kent Oncology Centre and separate fi- nancial arrangementsmay preserve some of the service for them. Pa- tients are being informed and ad-
vised of alternatives, ranging from financial support if on benefits and of other voluntary driving organisa- tions. A Trust spokesman said: “The voluntary car service is largely un- funded and taking hundreds of thousands of pounds a year away from direct patient care to help run it is no longer an option. “Patients will be advised about
other voluntary car schemes. Im- portantly, anyone who is medically unwell will still be taken from home to hospital and back again by our hospital ambulance service, which is being expanded. “Patients in receipt of benefits
can also seek financial assistance to help cover their travel cost.” He added the Trust would continue to provide a reduced voluntary car service with any funds it re- ceives for this purpose.”
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