Hospital building projects praised

A new catheter unit means patients do not have to travel to London

Several hospitals in the South East have been praised as examples of how the government has improved NHS buildings.

The New Generation of Healthcare Facilities report, released on Wednesday, singles out improvements in both Kent and Sussex.

The Darent Valley Hospital, in Dartford, Kent, is managed by a three-star rated trust and is now seen as a flagship hospital.

The 400-bed site, opened in 2000, was purpose built at a cost of £94m and was among the first hospitals to be privately financed.

Heart tests

The William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, has been praised for a £1m cardiac catheter unit which opened in July.

The new facility means up to 1,000 patients a year from east Kent no longer have to travel to London for heart tests.

In Brighton, £850,000 has been spent on providing new facilities in the maternity department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

A maternity unit in Brighton has been improved

They include neo-natal resuscitation cots, electric birthing beds, en-suite shower rooms for pre- and post-natal wards and a breast feeding room.

The government claims the projects are proof that it is putting money into meeting promises made in the NHS Plan to improve people's experience of going to hospital.

Since 1995, the proportion of buildings in use that are older than the NHS itself has fallen from half to less than a quarter.

But the government admits it still has some way to go.

Patients at Pembury Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, for example, continue to be treated in Victorian surroundings while a row drags on about the site for a replacement building.