| Medway Maritime Hospital | |
| Medway NHS Trust | |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Location | Gillingham, Kent, England, United Kingdom |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | Public NHS |
| Hospital type | General |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Yes Accident & Emergency |
| Beds | 588 |
| History | |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Links | |
| Website | http://www.medway.nhs.uk/Home Medway NHS |
| Lists | Hospitals in England |
Medway Maritime Hospital is a general hospital in Gillingham, England within the NHS South East Coast. It is run by Medway NHS which is a foundation trust. It is Kent's largest and busiest hospital, dealing with around 400,000 patients annually.[1] It was founded as the Royal Naval Hospital in 1902 for the Naval personnel at the Chatham Dockyard. At that time the main corridor was almost 1,000 feet long.[2]
The hospital was where the Piano Man was taken after being found wandering in a soaking wet suit and tie.
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The hospital was opened as the Royal Naval Hospital by King Edward VII on July 26, 1905 as a replacement for the 252 bed Melville Hospital (Naval), which was not large enough to deal with the increasing numbers of Naval personnel moving into Chatham.[3] In 1961 the hospital became part of the Medway Health Authority. The hospital closed for modernisation, and after some delays, opened again in 1965 under the name "Medway Hospital".[4] After a £60 million development in 1999, the hospital changed its name to "Medway Maritime Hospital" and services were transferred from neighbouring hospitals St Bartholomew's in Rochester and All Saints' in Chatham.
Medway Maritime Hospital has 588 beds in 29 wards under five main departments: accident and emergency, adult medicine, surgery and anaesthetics, children and women, clinical support services. [5] Under an ongoing and regularly updated NHS survey,[6] the quality of service is regarded as "fair", with 96% of patients waiting less than 18 weeks for treatment.[7] The hospital is run by the Medway NHS Foundation Trust, one of four hospital trusts in Kent. The trust employs over 3500 staff. The trust's main focus is running the Medway Maritime Hospital.[8] Medway is a foundation trust, which means it has more financial and operational freedom than "ordinary" NHS Trusts.[9]
Medway Hospital Radio was formed in 1970.[10] The radio station has over 45 volunteers and 2 broadcast studios located in the basement of the hospital. It broadcasts to all the wards in the hospital.
An unidentified man who became known as "Piano Man" was treated at Medway Hospital during April, 2005. The man was found wandering the streets in Sheerness, wearing a soaking wet suit and tie. Despite many attempts to communicate with him, he remained silent. When given a pen and paper he drew a grand piano. When taken to a piano in the hospital chapel, he played classical music non-stop for four hours.[11] After four months he revealed his identity as Andreas Grassl from Bavaria, and he returned home.[12]