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downsmail.co.uk Kims’ £15m loss in first year


Delays in signing up to the NHS “Choose and Book” service (now known as eReferral) and the failure of consultant surgeons fully com- mitting to the ground-breaking new hospital meant income streams were lower than antici- pated, forcing the board to restruc- ture and re-finance. Accounts for the hospital, which opened in April 2014, reveal that al- though the hospital had a turnover of £8.76m in its first year, it ended the year with a shortfall of £15.22m. Existing lenders put an addi-


tional £2m into the project, while a four-year “rent holiday” was granted under the property lease to help ease cash flows. Directors realised the hospital


was facing difficulties in November 2014 and brought in a new man- agement team to run the hospital. On their advice, the board was


forced to restructure or face run- ning out of funds by December


School must try harder


A SHEPWAY school has been told by a Government inspector that in spite of progress, more needs to be done to improve standards. The visit to Molehill Primary Academy in Hereford Road follows an overall rating of inadequate at its previous inspection. In its latest Ofsted report, the in- spector found that while leadership and management at Molehill were nowgood, the school’s overall rating of “requires improvement” included the quality of its teaching and pupils’ behaviour. The report noted that progress by


pupils varied from class to class and by the end of year 6, standards in reading, writing and mathematics were too low and too few reached the higher levels of attainment. It added that while teaching had improved: “The quality of teaching is not consistently good or better across the academy because not all teachers have high expectations.” While the executive principal, sen-


ior leaders and governors had worked effectively and made signif- icant changes, the report said: “Work is sometimes notdemanding enough to challenge the most able pupils so they do not always achieve aswell as they could.” It noted that the number of inci-


dents of poor behaviour had been reduced considerably and staffwere determined to provide the best pos- sible learning for pupils.


Formore local news www.downsmail.co.uk 16 Maidstone Town April 2016


MAIDSTONE’S newest private hospital, Kims, made a £15m loss in its first year of operation. 2015.


Among measures implemented


to pull Kims back from the brink were the issue of new share capital, which raised £7.8m and the con- version of £33.7m of loans into eq- uity share capital. Founding directors Steven Bern-


stein, Franz Dickmann and his son James Dickmann all resigned while Peter Goddard was appointed ex- ecutive chairman, Simon Rust fi- nance director and Simon James chief executive. Their end-of-year report reveals


the original business plan was for the hospital to generate high value, high complexity patient procedures but the initial take-up was lower than anticipated. Thiswas partly due to the hospi-


tal missing the deadline to tender for NHS work and instead having to rely on sporadic referrals. “Uncertainty of NHS work streams led to the number of con-


sultant surgeons fully transferring across to Kims being lower than ex- pected, with a consequent impact on revenue,” it adds. During the year, more than 1,600


private and 1,200 NHS patients were treated at Kims, but only 12% of the beds and 20% of the operat- ing theatre capacitywere used. Since registering with the eRefer-


ral service, whichwent live on Sep- tember 1, there has been a significant increase in the number of active consultants at the hospital and the first CQC inspection, car- ried out in September last year,was extremely positive. Chief executive Simon James concludes: “The company has had a challenging year in performance. This led to the need for significant additional funding and highlighted the need for a more appropriate sustainable capital structure. “With the restructuring in De- cember 2015, the directors are con-


fident that the company has suffi- cient appropriate funding.” Kims took two years to build and


cost more than £100m. It boasts some of the best hi-tech equipment and consultants in the country and has since carried out a number of ground-breaking procedures, in- cluding open heart and keyhole heart surgery. Speaking in October last year, Mr


James said: “I have never seen a healthcare company make money in its first year. It’s a business that has to be resource-led, as you have to recruit staff before you can take in patients.” He believes the hospital can


break even in its third year – still sooner than the accepted norm of five to seven years for a private hos- pital. He said: “It will be hard work,


but it is achievable. We have had great support from the consultants, which is really good.”


Women’s charity climb for cancer


FIVE Maidstone women are raising money for two charities as a practicalway of dealing with an illness that has hit their family. Theywill take part in a three peaks challenge to fund research through The Brain Tumour Charity and sup- port fromMarie Curie Cancer Care. Chloe Loy (18), whosemum


Jenniferwas diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011, will be joining her aunt Kay Irving (41) and her daughters Alice (20) and Sophie (18), along with cousin Tina Salt (31), who lost her dadMartyn Ridd to pancreatic cancer, aged 56. Chloe, whoworks in retail in the


town and lives inWestmorland Road, Shepway said: “My aunt and cousins have organised charity nights with auctions in the past and Sophie and Kay did a bungy jump in 2014, but this is like nothingwe have done before.” Tina, who owns the Midnight


Flower florist in Hanson Drive, added: “We’ve all been affected by these conditions and ifwe can give


From left, Sophie Irving, Tina Salt, Kay Irving, Chloe Loy and Alice Irving


another family the help and support they need or prevent them from having to go through it altogether, it’ll be worth it. The fact thatwe’re doing this together will keep us all going and help us push each other on to the finish. “My dad came fromYorkshire, so it


seems right that this is where our first big challenge is.” The girls will be climbing Pen-y-


Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough – a challenge that should take about 12 hours. Sophie, who lives in Tarragon Road


and works at Tesco Express, said: “Doing the challenge as a family will motivateme to keep going and it will be a constant reminder of why we are doing it. Both of these charities need funds for research and support purposes so that other families don’t have to suffer likewe did and still are.” They are already busy training for


their challenge in August, at the gym and withwalks eachweek at Mote Park. Sponsor them at www.mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/t hreepeakss


School’s wartime life recorded Flood wardens


THE former head of Maidstone Girls’ Grammar is looking for memories from former pupils for a book she is writing about the school during the war.


Mary Smith (right) has been asked by the school to compile the book, using wartime illus- trations painted by former art teacher Miss Keen. Mrs Smith said: “If you think you may be able to help, even if your knowledge of the time seems insignificant to you, please get in touch.” Email central@mggs.org, marking your subject for the attention of Mary Smith.


TOVIL Parish Council is writing to residents who live on the wa- terfront in Tovil in a bid to re- cruit more flood wardens for the area.


The requests will be delivered to those people living in Hugh- enden Reach, The Boatyard and Millers Wharf.


Potential recruits will be of- fered training.


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