Robert Hall reports from the Joyce Green Hospital in Dartford

Four security guards and 12 agency nurses have been brought in to look after the 28 children placed at the Joyce Green Hospital in Dartford, Kent.

They were among 103 east Europeans who claimed political asylum after being discovered in the back of a truck at Dartford ferry port last week.

It is believed to be one of the largest single round-ups of suspected illegal immigrants in the UK.

Wards closed for years

The hospital wards were closed several years ago because there was no access.

Dartford MP Dr Howard Stoate: "Wards unused for some time"

Labour MP for Dartford, Dr Howard Stoate, said the wards at the hospital had no lift access to the rest of the building.

"This is a part of the hospital not being used for patients. No NHS patient will be put out by this development," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The BBC's Robin Gibson: "Kent is now accommodating a total of 1450 asylum-seekers"

The council is paying £1,000 a week for the four guards and £35 per hour for each of the nurses, The Sun newspaper reports.

The guards were brought in after the immigrants began disrupting hospital life, the newspaper says.

A Home Office spokeswoman said that while the department's immigration section was responsible for processing their applications the government did not provide for refugees.

She said: "Local authority social services provide care for asylum seekers while the Home Office considers their asylum applications."