Milestone at new KIMS hospital
A MAJOR construction milestone has been marked at Maidstone’s £85m new hospital. Borough and county councillors, officers
and civic dignitaries gathered for the “top- ping out” ceremony at the Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (KIMS), being built on land near J7 of the M20 at Bearsted. Consultant cardiologist Dr Phyllis Holt,
wife of Franz Dickmann, acting CEO, and his son James, put the finishing touches to the rooftop of the hospital, before being pre- sented with a ceremonial silver trowel by construction company Vinci. KIMS, the focal point of a seven-acre site,
will provide the only cardiothoracic and neurosurgery tertiary care beds in Kent. It aims to be a centre of excellence for medicine in the UK and will also offer on- cology and diagnostics, gynaecology, or- thopaedics, angiography, advanced MRI and nuclear medicine.
Firm on move DEVELOPER Chartway Group has applied to move its headquarters from Church Street, Tovil, to the former Beds Direct site in Upper Stone Street, Maidstone. A supporting statement
said the growing company needed larger premises. The scheme, which will be determined by Maidstone Council, is for the change of use from retail and workshop to light industrial/offices at 92-100 Upper Stone Street.
Construction work is due to finish in Jan-
uary 2014, with the opening scheduled four months later. KIMS chairman Steven Bernstein said:
James Dickmann, Phyllis Holt and Dan Hollis It will have 300 clinicians, plus nursing
staff and a senior management team. Despite the worst spring and summer for a century, construction work was on schedule and Vinci’s regional commercial manager Dan Hollis told the assembled guests: “This is a fantastic team achievement.”
ONE of the first nominees for this year’s Celebrate Maidstone awards is Lorna Priddle, execu- tive headteacher of St Michael’s C of E Federation. Lorna has spent years of her
life injecting passion and pro- fessionalism into schools. Ten years ago, she was ap- pointed headteacher of St Michael’s Infant School, at a time when it needed huge im- provement. In a short time, the school began to thrive and has now been awarded outstanding in two Ofsted reports.
“The ‘topping out’ marks an important mile- stone. When fully open, KIMS will offer a medical campus and acute specialist health- care treatments that are currently only avail- able in the large London hospitals.” Jayne Cassidy, currently director of Nuffield Health in Guildford, Surrey, has been appointed hospital director from April. Mrs Cassidy has worked in the private
health sector for more than 12 years and has an MBA from Henley Management College. She has worked as development director
for HCA International Ltd and as chief ex- ecutive officer of the Guildford Clinic. She spent two years as chief operating officer for The Wellington Hospital, the largest inde- pendent hospital in the UK.
Head nominated for ‘unsung hero’ award In 2011, Lorna was called in to
St Michael’s Junior School be- cause it was said by Ofsted to need help. In just one year, the school saw “rapid and signifi- cant growth”. Lorna is now a National Leader of Education, and travels across the South East support- ing other headteachers. She is in the process of helping an- other school in Maidstone and has set up links with an or- phanage in Grenada to which St Michael’s sends clothing pack- ages and Christmas gifts.
She said: “I’m passionate
about my children and chang- ing peoples’ lives.” CelebrateMaidstone is a com- munity initiative which re- wards Maidstone’s unsung heroes and seeks to make a pos- itive difference in the town. This year’s awards focus on ed- ucation. You can nominate a teacher, business mentor, sports coach, performing arts teacher, education support staff – or any- onewho has trained you in your life – at www.celebratemaid-
stone.org.uk by March 31.
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