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Dementia care in a home seing Medical hub ‘state-of-the-art’
Continued from page one planning permission, but a detailed proposal, being drawn up by David Morley Architects of London, de- signer of KIMS, is almost ready for submission to Maidstone Council. The village would be one of only
six being planned in the country in conjunction with the NHS and should be up and running within two years. If planning permission is granted,
the developer hopes work could start by October, with construction being carried out byVinci, builder of Kims. Fifty per cent of the site would be devoted to one, two and three-bed- room apartments, built around a vil- lage square, with bowling greens and tennis courts. The remainder of the land would comprise parkland with countrywalks.
New site for
university plan A NEW university, originally planned for Maidstone, is now to be sited in TunbridgeWells. While Kims offers postgraduate training and opportunities, under- graduates need the proximity of a district general hospital such as the facility in Pembury it would be adja- cent to. The Maidstone and Tunbridge
Wells University will offer tuition to medical and research students and postgraduate clinicians, many of whom will go on to work with the consultants and patients at both sites. The 49-hectare site would also ac- commodate the Tunbridge Wells Neuro RehabVillage.
Heart treatment
ANOTHER first for Kims is the in- troduction of electro-physiology as a treatment to correct arrhythmias or irregular heart rhythms. Dr Edward Roland and Professor Richard Chilling are among a team of consultants offering this sophisti- cated treatment, originally devel- oped by Dr Phylllis Holt when she was in practice at Guy’s Hospital, London.
Taking back seat
FRANZ Dickmann (73) may have “retired” as president of Kims – but he is still pressing ahead with his project for the six neuro rehab vil- lages and the protonbeamunit at the nearby MMC. Regarding Kims, he said: “I’m a businessman. My job is to set things rolling – and then step back. Jane Cassidy is an excellent manager and Steven Bernstein is a very capable chairman.”
14 Maidstone East February 2015
THE neuro rehabilitation village would offer state-of-the-art facilities and expertise from the nation’s top doctors who work with brain-damaged patients and those suffering from mind-altering conditions, writes Jane Shotliff. As well as Maidstone, there are
plans to create similar villages in TunbridgeWells, Oxford, Cambridge, Swansea andWarwick. The centre would offer complex nursing for patients and their
The complex would include pri-
vate and shared apartments catering for a range of conditions and levels of care, in a cleverly-concealed hos- pital environment, with oxygen sup-
families, as well as vital support which will help residents lead their lives to the full. Cllr Malcolm Greer, who has
been instrumental in pushing ahead with the scheme, said: “This centre will offer support and more understanding for those people with long-term conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, Huntingdon’s, motor neurone, multiple sclerosis, ME and a multitude of associated conditions.
plies and other essential healthcare facilities. As well as providing homes for
between 120 and 150 people with neurological conditions, the complex
Plan for proton therapy
A £200M proton therapy unit to treat cancer could be built in Maidstone – one of the first in the country. Franz Dickmann hopes to make
the cutting-edge proton beam therapy available at the Maidstone Medical Campus (MMC), next to Newnham Court, off junction 7 of the M20 – within two years. Raising the start-up funds is not
the main issue, according to Mr Dickmann, but the challenge is to secure the ongoing costs of pro- viding the treatment. Proton beam therapy costs £35,000 per treatment and is par- ticularly beneficial when treating brain tumours and cranial cancers, as it doesn’t damage healthy tis- sue, unlike conventional linear ra- diation techniques.
Proton therapy is only available
in London and Manchester at present and was at the centre of controversy when the Hampshire parents of five year old Ashya King “abducted” him from hospi- tal in Southampton and fled to Spain, en route to obtaining treat- ment in the Czech Republic. The Government has earmarked
£250m for the development of two proton therapy centres – a treat- ment for which most patients cur- rently fly to the USA – as groundbreaking research contin- ues to find new ways to beat can- cer.
Proton therapy is not suitable treatment for all cancers and car- ries certain risks, but it increases the chance of success from 20% to 80% in some forms of cancer.
would create 440 jobs. Protagonist Franz Dickmann and
his wife, cardiologist Dr Phyllis Holt, who came up with the idea, believe the concept is the way forward in caring for the country’s increasingly ageing population, in a more con- siderate and caringway. Mr Dickmann said: “People with Alzheimer’s and dementia need a tremendous amount of support and tearing couples apart and taking them out of their familiar environ- ment is not theway to do it. “People in their home environ-
ment live longer, are happier – and it’s also cheaper to provide the care.” Mr Dickmann estimates a 24/7
care package for a couple living in the village could cost £4,000 a month – at least half the cost of similar care in the existing – often inappropriate – residential care sector.
Parking need
‘miscalculated’ THE Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (Kims) has admitted it got its sums wrong and massively un- derestimated how many parking spaces it would need. Kims has 143 parking spaces north
of the Newnham Court Shopping Village, Bearsted Road, Weavering for its 188 staff, but it says its initial assessment did not take account of shift work, so applied to increase on- site parking by 148 spaces, which Maidstone Council has accepted. A delegated officer report said:
“An increase in the car parking pro- vision for use by hospital staff would discourage the use of the park and ride facility nearby. However, shift patterns and the distance to the park and ride is inconveniencing the staff andpotentially impacting on the op- eration of the hospital.”
Patient doingwell after first heart op
THE first open heart surgery to be performed in Kent has been carried out at Maidstone’s Kims Hospital. Staff say Steve Astbury (62), from Headcorn, is recoveringwell after his operation by lead cardiologist Dr Phyllis Holt. Previously, heart patients had to travel to London for treatment. Mr Astbury said: “I felt in safe
hands under the excellent care of the cardiologist and her dedicated team. Itwas a real comfort to be offered life-saving surgery without the need to travel far.” The hospital, which has one of the
largest cardiology departments in the UK, has now carried out five cardiac operations. A team of 18 people and support
Somemembers of the surgical team who carried out Mr Astbury’s operation
staff are in attendance for open heart surgery. Kims, which opened in April last year, is working with local commissioning bodies to increase the NHS patients it treats. Facilities at the £120m hospital
include five operating theatres; endoscopy and imaging suites; 72
inpatient beds and 20 day care beds; 17 consultation rooms and six outpatient treatment rooms. The hospital is designed to function at 80%of capacity, allowing support staff ample time to deep clean wards between patients, minimising the risk of infection.
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