Hospital marks a decade of care

KIMS Hospital is celebrating 10 years as the largest independent hospital in Kent.

KIMS hospital welcomed its first patient in April 2014 and has continued to grow into a thriving business across multiple locations.

The hospital opened Sevenoaks Medical Centre in 2020 as part of its mission to provide affordable, quality healthcare across Kent, and in 2021, was acquired by LycaHealth, to join their diagnostic centre and Joint Advisory Group (JAG) accredited endoscopy centre in Orpington, and diagnostic centre in Canary Wharf.

Dr Prema Subaskaran, Executive Chairperson at KIMS Hospital and LycaHealth, said: “Our 10th anniversary marks a significant milestone for KIMS Hospital. Since opening, our mission has always been to place our patients at the heart of everything we do, a commitment our outstanding clinical and administrative teams work tirelessly to deliver.

“I am excited about the future of KIMS Hospital. We have ambitious plans to expand to more locations, become an Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence, and will continue to invest in technological and digital transformation, especially in robotics. We are also about to open a second Cath Lab within our state-of-the-art Cardiology Centre.”

In 2023, KIMS Hospital became the first hospital in Kent to introduce the innovative Mako SmartRobotics system for hip and knee replacements. Since then it has also achieved the gold standard in patient safety with the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP).

As well as looking after their patients, the team at KIMS Hospital and Sevenoaks Medical Centre have raised a total of more than £52,000 in the past 10 years for local charities, including Heart of Kent Hospice, Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex and Holding On Letting Go, their current charity of the year. This has been achieved by organising hundreds of fundraising events, including staff completing the Three Peaks Challenge, walking from Maidstone to Whitstable, cycling to France and more.

During the Covid pandemic, the hospital treated patients within cancer services, cardiology, gynaecology, urology and colorectal services, supporting the NHS at a crucial time. Sevenoaks Medical Centre also opened its ground floor to the local Primary Care Network as a Covid vaccination site.

Richard Dimblebee, hospital Director, said:

“We’re so proud of the hard-working teams we have here at KIMS Hospital. The hospital has significantly grown in size over the past 10 years, and we couldn’t do it without them.

“We now boast more than 600 experienced staff who are committed to providing safe, outstanding quality care.” www.kims.org.uk

KIMS Hospital offers more than 35 different specialties to NHS and private patients including orthopaedics, general surgery, cancer services and cardiology.