New stroke rehabilitation centre for Tonbridge hospital

The new Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury will treat acute stroke patients

A new £400,000 12-bed stroke rehabilitation centre is to open in the Tonbridge Cottage Hospital.

The unit will replace facilities at the Kent and Sussex Hospital when it closes later this month.

An eight-bed stroke unit at the new Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury will treat the most acute patients.

Patients will be given rehabilitation therapies at the cottage hospital to help them overcome disabilities caused by strokes.

Nikki Luffingham from the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said: "Acutely ill stroke patients will be treated in the most modern, state-of-the-art hospital in the country."

Community-based care such as this "has been shown to be the best way of caring for people who have had a stroke", she added.

The stroke rehabilitation unit at Tonbridge Cottage Hospital replaces a prefabricated temporary structure at the Kent and Sussex Hospital, which is due to close on 21 September.

Many other services will be transferred to the new Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury.