Pembury Hospital
Encyclopedia
The Tunbridge Wells Hospital is a large hospital in Pembury
, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent
, England
, run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
. The hospital is located north-west of the village on Tonbridge Road.
A new hospital has been built by Laing O'Rourke
on the same site at a cost of £226 million. Building work started in 2008. The first phase of the new hospital opened in January 2011, the rest of the hospital opened on the 21st September 2011, all services were transferred from the Kent and Sussex Hospital
. The new hospital has been denied a "Royal" prefix.
The new hospital is the first acute NHS hospital in Britain where every inpatient has their own room with en-suite facilities, with ceiling to floor windows revealing views over surrounding woodland. The maternity unit will see nearly 100 babies born every week and the A&E department will treat 50,000 patients every year.
as a workhouse
(a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment). The building was designed by John Whichcord to accommodate 400 inmates. The two-acre site at Sandhill, Newbars Wood was chosen after the preferred site at Bo-Peep, Pembury was considered too expensive.
Further buildings and extensions followed, including:
All of the existing hospital buildings are being demolished as part of the development of the new hospital, except for the Grade II listed chapel.
department, with the first baby being born in the new unit in January 2011.
The new hospital has been named 'The Tunbridge Wells Hospital'. There is considerable local resistance to this name change, particularly as the new Hospital isn't in Tunbridge Wells at all.
Pembury
Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of around 6,000. It lies just to the north-east of Tunbridge Wells.The village centre, including the village green and High Street area is a conservation area.-History:...
, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is a large NHS Trust in the British National Health Service that manages hospitals in the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells region in Kent....
. The hospital is located north-west of the village on Tonbridge Road.
A new hospital has been built by Laing O'Rourke
Laing O'Rourke
Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1978....
on the same site at a cost of £226 million. Building work started in 2008. The first phase of the new hospital opened in January 2011, the rest of the hospital opened on the 21st September 2011, all services were transferred from the Kent and Sussex Hospital
Kent and Sussex Hospital
The Kent and Sussex Hospital was a district general hospital located on Mount Ephraim in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England serving the West Kent and East Sussex areas. It closed on 21 September 2011 and was replaced by the new Pembury Hospital....
. The new hospital has been denied a "Royal" prefix.
The new hospital is the first acute NHS hospital in Britain where every inpatient has their own room with en-suite facilities, with ceiling to floor windows revealing views over surrounding woodland. The maternity unit will see nearly 100 babies born every week and the A&E department will treat 50,000 patients every year.
Location
The hospital is located on Tonbridge Road, around 0.5 kilometre (0.310686368324903 mi) to the north-west of Pembury, close to the A21 trunk road. It is surrounded by woodland on three sides.Tonbridge Workhouse
The site was first developed in 1836 by the Tonbridge Poor Law UnionPoor Law Union
A Poor Law Union was a unit used for local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. The administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of parishes, which varied wildly in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements...
as a workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
(a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment). The building was designed by John Whichcord to accommodate 400 inmates. The two-acre site at Sandhill, Newbars Wood was chosen after the preferred site at Bo-Peep, Pembury was considered too expensive.
Further buildings and extensions followed, including:
- an isolation block added in an unknown location in 1838, following a smallpox epidemic;
- a hospital block added in 1856 to the north of the workhouse (later used as a nurses' home);
- a chapel added in 1870 to the north-east of the site;
- a school block added the same year to the east;
- an entrance block added in 1872 to the south;
- an extended infirmary added to the east of the hospital block in 1890;
- an entrance lodge added to the south.
Pembury County Hospital
The workhouse became Pembury County Hospital in 1938.All of the existing hospital buildings are being demolished as part of the development of the new hospital, except for the Grade II listed chapel.
New Hospital
The new Pembury Hospital has replaced both the Pembury County Hospital and the Kent and Sussex Hospital. It has 512 beds and provides a full range of clinical services including an Accident and Emergency department. The first department to transfer to the new hospital was the maternityMaternity
Maternity or motherhood is the social and legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a mother and her child.It is specially related with the protection of the baby and the mother within and after the childbirth.-See also:...
department, with the first baby being born in the new unit in January 2011.
The new hospital has been named 'The Tunbridge Wells Hospital'. There is considerable local resistance to this name change, particularly as the new Hospital isn't in Tunbridge Wells at all.