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Breastfeeding Café supports new parents
 A new Breastfeeding Café at Crowborough Birthing Centre is providing an important community-based resource and expert feeding support for new parents.
The Birthing Centre, which is part of our Trust, has provided antenatal and postnatal maternity care to around 700 women and babies over the past year. The Breastfeeding Café was set up to provide a friendly, welcoming space for new parents to meet, socialise and receive emotional support as well as expert advice on feeding.
Held every Thursday morning in the Day Centre at Crowborough War Memorial Hospital, the Breastfeeding Café is run by a variety of health specialists, including staff from the Birthing Centre and specially trained breastfeeding peer supporters.
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Staff help ICU patients to enjoy the sunshine
 With the weather warming up, colleagues in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Tunbridge Wells Hospital have been helping our most critically ill patients to enjoy the sun in a special garden just around the corner from the ward.
The garden, which opened last year, gives patients the opportunity to spend time outside the clinical area and away from the constant noises and beeps of medical equipment. Our expert ICU teams care for over 1,000 patients every year across our hospitals, and the garden offers an area where they can meet friends, family and even pets!
ICU Matron Alexandre Marques, who talked to the publication NursingNotes about the garden, said: "Having a dedicated outdoor area enables our patients to spend time outside, and this provides a wide range of benefits, from mental and physical wellbeing to reduced recovery times and shorter stays in hospital."
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Welcoming our first
Internationally Educated Midwife
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We recently welcomed Moriette Lewis to the Trust who, having completed all her NHS clinical assessments and training, has become our first Internationally Educated Midwife.
Moriette will now follow a personalised programme to support her as she continues to gain experience of working as a midwife in the UK.
Moriette, who joins us from Trinidad and Tobago, has told Patient First that she is happy to be here experiencing what another country has to offer, and is looking forward to growing and developing her career.
If you are interested in finding out about career opportunities at the Trust, visit our dedicated hub!
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Raising awareness of stroke
 The Stroke Unit at Maidstone Hospital hosted a special awareness day on Thursday 25 May to mark this year’s ‘Make May purple for stroke’ campaign. Run by the Stroke Association, the campaign aims to raise awareness of strokes and their impact on patients, their families and friends. It also helps to educate the public on how to spot the signs of a stroke, what causes them, and what people should do when someone has a stroke.
The awareness day included a host of activities, from a delicious cake stall in Maidstone Hospital foyer to a fun quiz and blindfold challenge, and the MTW choir provided the perfect musical backdrop for patients and staff in the Stroke Unit. A number of patients were brought into the main area of the Unit to watch the choir perform and doors were opened so that everyone in beds could also enjoy the music.
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New clinic spaces for our diabetes patients |
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Diabetes patients at Maidstone Hospital are benefiting from two newly-converted spaces, allowing specialist teams to see more patients and offer an increased level of support to people with the condition. The new facilities were officially opened by Gary Fagg MBE, Chairman of the Trustees at the Paula Carr Diabetes Trust, which generously supported the project.
Our specialist diabetes service cares for a population of around 27,000 across west Kent. This includes patients who have been admitted to hospital, who require follow-up care after discharge, and/or who need support managing diabetes during pregnancy. The service also provides all aspects of type 1 diabetes management, including dose adjustments, education and dietitian support.
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Partnership working helping to get
patients home sooner
Chief Executive at Maidstone Borough Council, Alison Broom, recently visited our Integrated Discharge Team (IDT) at Maidstone Hospital as part of a ‘back-to-the-floor’ day for the hospital discharge programme.
Our IDTs based at both Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells hospitals play a huge role in getting patients back home, or to the right place for their ongoing care, as quickly and safely as possible. During her visit, Alison Broom met IDT staff and discussed the work involved in getting patients safely out of hospital sooner, as well as the team’s ongoing collaboration with Maidstone Borough Council as part of this.
The IDTs across both our hospitals bridge the gap between health and social care, bringing together a number of services that are funded by our Trust as well as Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, social services and the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board. All these teams work together to make sure patients receive the most appropriate care and ongoing support when they are ready to leave hospital.
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Have your say and help future patients!
The Kent and Medway Orthopaedic Centre is our new surgical hub set to open in early 2024. The new multimillion-pound theatre complex at Maidstone Hospital will provide three operating theatres to increase capacity for routine orthopaedic operations such as hip and knee replacements. We now need your help to develop the information materials for those patients who will be getting treatment at the new Centre when it opens.
Whether you or someone you know has previously had planned orthopaedic surgery, or is currently waiting for a planned orthopaedic operation, we want to hear your views – from how to find us to what you should bring, tell us what you'd want to know to feel prepared for your visit.
We will be hosting two engagement events for you to tell us your thoughts:
- In-person event: Wednesday 14 June, 3pm - 4.30pm at Maidstone Hospital. Refreshments will be provided and hospital parking will be reimbursed.
- Virtual event: Tuesday 27 June, 6pm - 7.30pm.
To take part and help shape our patient information, please email mtw-tr.ppe@nhs.net by Sunday 11 June (telling us which session you would like to attend) and further information will be provided.
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