Staff from the private, Benenden Hospital in Kent are now supporting NHS colleagues in the fight against coronavirus.
A team of theatre staff from the CQC-rated “Outstanding” independent hospital have been seconded, or have volunteered, to work at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, which is part of the East Kent University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Jane Abbott, Hospital Director and Chief Nurse at Benenden Hospital said:
“I’m immensely proud that we have a team supporting our nursing colleagues in the NHS at this difficult time.
“As part of a national agreement to increase clinical capacity, all planned elective surgery has been stopped both in the NHS and the private sector–including here at Benenden Hospital which has enabled us to offer our support. We anticipate the arrangement will continue for some time, to ensure that patients continue to receive the best possible care."
The partnership between NHS England and the Independent Healthcare Providers Network means Benenden Hospital will also welcome some patients from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to its Bensan Ward, where they will continue their recuperation from various treatments initially undertaken at that Trust’s hospitals.
“We have a strong history of providing quality healthcare at Benenden Hospital and in fact, our own foundation was in response to a major health pandemic–that of the Tuberculosis epidemic at the turn of the 20th century: it is right we should be playing our part in today’s pandemic, more than 115 years later, said Jane Abbott.
Published on 01 May 2020