The Kent Institute of Medicine & Surgery (KIMS) Hospital, the £120 m independent hospital on a seven-acre site near Maidstone which is Kent’s only tertiary care facility, and which opened last April (HEJ – May 2014), recently undertook what staff say was the county’s first open heart surgery procedure.
The hospital has a strong focus in areas of complex care such as cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, and neuroscience.
The first patient to undergo open heart surgery, last November, was Steve Astbury. Under the care of KIMS Hospital’s lead cardiologist, Dr Phyllis Holt, a whole surgery team led by Inderpaul Birdi undertook three coronary heart bypass grafts. Following the surgery, the KIMS has undertaken three further successful cardiac operations, including open heart surgery to replace a heart valve.
Key facilities at the KIMS Hospital include five integrated operating theatres; an endoscopy suite; an interventional suite; 72 inpatient and 20 day care beds; seven ITU and HDU beds; 17 consultation / examination rooms, and six outpatient treatment rooms. There is also a comprehensive diagnostic and imaging suite, cardiology diagnostic and imaging facilities, an in-house sterilisation service, pathology, and a postgraduate education / conference centre
Since KIMS Hospital opened, it has attracted over 170 consultants, who are now providing services in 33 different healthcare specialisms.
The new hospital is said to have one of the UK’s largest cardiology departments, and is ‘the first and only institute in Kent’ to carry out open-heart surgery.
During October and November 2014, NHS patients were treated, and more patients are scheduled to receive treatment in 2015. Alongside heart surgery, the new hospital has so far undertaken ophthalmology, trauma and orthopaedics, neurosurgery, gastrointestinal, gynaecology, and general surgery procedures.
