400 New Jobs for Kent as 'Hospital of the Future' Funding Agreed

2nd April 2012

• 400 new jobs to be created
• £34m funding agreed
• Providing only Cardiothoracic and Neurosurgery tertiary care beds in Kent

Building for one of the UK’s most advanced surgical hospitals will start this month thanks to funding from Clydesdale Bank, it has been announced today.

The Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (KIMS) has been five years in planning, and the ground will now finally be broken after a deal was agreed with Clydesdale Bank. The Bank will provide £34million of funding for the project; covering the initial build and operational costs thereafter.

Additional funding for the £80million scheme is being provided by a number of corporate and private investors. The private investors include around 100 clinicians who are providing cash and personal guarantees; KIMS is a clinician-led and part-owned facility.

KIMS is being built on a seven acre site close to the M20 near Maidstone, and will provide care across multiple disciplines, including Cardio-Thoracic, Neurosurgery, Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Oncology and diagnostics including angiography, advanced MRI and nuclear medicine.

Once open, anticipated to be early 2014, KIMS will provide the only Cardiothoracic and Neurosurgery tertiary care beds in Kent, including the recently opened NHS hospital at Pembury. The longer term vision is to extend the site; creating a medical campus that will be a ‘centre of excellence’.

KIMS will utilise the services of around 200 clinicians, including leading names from a number of medical disciplines. The hospital will also create around 400 new jobs at the site.

The new hospital will provide private medical care, plus support for the NHS by providing treatments to Kent residents for which they currently have to travel to London hospitals, such as Guy’s and St Thomas’. KIMS will make up to 25% of its capacity available for NHS treatments.

The new facility will feature nine theatres for both simple and complex procedures; incorporating video-facilities and enabling teaching and instruction anywhere in the world. The hospital will also benefit from the latest medical technology thanks to an agreement with GE Healthcare, which in turn will benefit from being able to showcase its products at KIMS.

As part of the funding agreement Clydesdale Bank has also secured naming rights to the hospital’s education building. The rights will extend for 15 years.

Stuart Trussler, Corporate Banking Director, Corporate and Structured Finance at Clydesdale Bank, said:

“This agreement is fantastic news for Kent. We are very pleased to have been part of this process; supporting KIMS and bringing a much needed facility to life - improving healthcare and patient outcomes in Kent.”

Dr. Tony Hammond, Chairman of the KIMS Medical Advisory Committee, said:

“KIMS will bring much needed tertiary care beds to Kent, cutting out thousands of hours of travel for patients, and bringing the best clinicians to their doorsteps. We would like to thank Clydesdale Bank for their help and support, without their understanding and ability to share our vision we would not be here now.”