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#Patientfirst
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January 2026
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Happy 2026!
 While many of us enjoyed time off with family and friends over Christmas and New Year, our teams continued working throughout to care for patients and sprinkle some festive magic for those staying on our wards.
We also welcomed ten new arrivals on Christmas Day at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, including baby Archer (pictured left) who was born to parents Cara and Matthew at 1.49am on the morning of 25 December. Parents Tara and Nicholas (pictured right) welcomed their baby girl on New Year's Day, one of eight babies to arrive on 1 January, marking a memorable start to the year.
On behalf of everyone at the Trust, we wish all our patients, visitors and partner organisations a happy and healthy 2026!
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Getting help in the right place at the right time this winter
 BBC South East visited Tunbridge Wells Hospital to hear from our Emergency Department teams about the increased pressures that A&Es across the country face at this time of year.
Staff explained how the public can help by using the right service for their needs and only go to A&E for serious or life-threatening conditions such as severe chest pains, serious head injuries, loss of consciousness or breathing difficulties.
If medical help is needed for a less serious condition, pharmacists, NHS 111 and urgent treatment centres can all provide assistance and ensure the right help is delivered quickly, in the right place.
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Making a difference in west Africa
 Senior doctors from the Trust have been volunteering their skills at a hospital in The Gambia, west Africa, helping to treat people with bone and joint problems.
Consultant Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, Ms Jo Dartnell, and Consultant Anaesthetist, Dr Andy Taylor, joined a team of doctors from across the UK to work with local healthcare teams and improve standards of hospital treatment in the country.
Due to the limitations of The Gambia’s healthcare system, there is often a delay in people seeking help, or they turn to treatment from traditional healers, which can lead to poor outcomes.
The volunteer clinicians saw more than 200 patients over the course of a week, many of whom had travelled for days to see them, treating a range of conditions including chronically infected open fractures and burns.
The team also performed around 70 operations and trained over 150 local medical professionals, giving them new skills to continue caring for patients once the team left.
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National award for outstanding cancer care
 The Myeloma team and the wider Cancer division at Maidstone Hospital have been presented with the Myeloma UK Clinical Service Excellence Programme (CSEP) Award.
The achievement recognises the team’s outstanding dedication to improving the lives of people with myeloma and their commitment to compassionate, patient-centred care.
Myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that affects more than 33,000 people in the UK. Most cases are treatable and can have periods of remission, but diagnosis can be challenging as symptoms can be mistaken for other conditions.
The team at Maidstone Hospital are the first in Kent to receive the award, with the judging panel praising staff for their focus on enhancing quality of life and for their willingness to listen and respond to patients’ needs.
ITV Meridian recently covered the story as part of a special news feature. The crew spoke to Dr Fathi Al-Jehani, Clinical Director for Haematology, and Claire Herbert, Myeloma Clinical Nurse Specialist, about their roles and also featured Richard, a patient whose early diagnosis of myeloma proved crucial.
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Celebrate our staff - nominate an Employee of the Month! |
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Is there a member of staff or team who you think has gone the extra mile to deliver outstanding care? Do they demonstrate our Trust values of patient first, respect, innovations, delivery and excellence, and has their work made a difference to you, your family or friends?
If so, then nominate them for the Employee of the Month award and give them the recognition they deserve!
Nominations are reviewed each month, and winners are decided by our panel of staff judges who work across different roles and departments in our hospitals.
Winners will be announced each month on our social media channels.
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Welcoming our first anaesthesia associate
Ashraf ElMahdy, who has previously worked as a Lead Theatre Practitioner in the Orthopaedic Unit at Maidstone Hospital, has recently qualified to become the Trust's first anaesthesia associate.
The new role will be known as physician assistant in anaesthesia (PAA) and is regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC).
Ashraf trained clinically in the Trust while completing his Master's degree to become a PAA. As a skilled practitioner working in the anaesthetic team, his new role will include reviewing and assessing patients before surgery, facilitating anaesthesia plans and supervised caring for patients under anaesthesia.
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Did you know?
Thanks to our incredible teams, we cared for over ONE MILLION patients last year. This includes seeing 250,000 patients in our Emergency Departments, undertaking over 30,000 surgeries and delivering more than 600,000 outpatient appointments.
Our staff also carried out over 9.6 million tests in our labs, 80,000 CT scans, 50,000 MRI scans, 160,000 x-rays and dispensed nearly 725,000 prescriptions.
Not only that, but our teams processed over 2.9 million pieces of laundry, prepared over 800,000 patient meals, decontaminated 130,000 trays of equipment, cleaned over 87,500 beds and completed more than 280,000 portering jobs!
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