Welcome to children’s services at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Our children’s service is kind, caring, compassionate and supportive with friendly, fun nurses, doctors and allied health professionals.
We understand it is a difficult and often emotional time when your child is in hospital and therefore we want to do all that we can to put you at ease and make the experience of being in hospital a pleasant one. We want to make sure that your child is as comfortable as possible during their stay and that you, as parents and carers, are given all the information you need.
A team of allied health professionals and specialist nurses support the units. We also have health play specialists who enable the children and young people to play, learn and discover while in hospital. They have an important role in the preparation of the child for procedures, distraction and allowing parents and carers a support network for their child whilst in hospital.
About us
Children’s Services accommodates children and young people from birth to 16 years old. We have a number of different areas offering excellent standards of care.
We treat a full range of conditions including:
- Planned treatment and surgeries – ophthalmology, urology, ENT and orthopaedics
- Emergency surgical/medical treatment
- Oncology including community support
- Diabetes
- Endocrinology
- Respiratory
- Allergy
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Gastroenterology
- Epilepsy
- Paediatric Orthopaedics
- Transition to adult services
We have the following services at Tunbridge Wells Hospital:
- Hedgehog Inpatient Ward
- Woodlands Assessment Unit
- Treetops Day Surgery Unit
- Children’s Outpatients
- Paediatric Accident and Emergency Department – 24 hours
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
We have the following services at Maidstone Hospital:
- Riverbank Assessment Unit
- Children’s Outpatient Department
- Paediatric Accident and Emergency Department
Please note that the Trust’s Diana community children’s nursing service is now provided by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), which already provides multiple children’s services across Kent and Medway and is an experienced community services’ provider.
If you are in receipt of this service it means that your child’s care will now be provided by the Children’s Community Nursing team, a KCHFT team of healthcare professionals, either in a clinical setting or in your home depending on your child’s health needs. You do not need to do anything; your child’s care will continue as it is now and your supplies will now be delivered by KCHFT.
MTW works really closely with KCHFT, which holds an ‘outstanding rating’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and specialises in community nursing. So, we would like to reassure you that your child will receive the very best care and they will continue to provide the same level of service.
For information on MTW’s inpatient, outpatient and day units, visit A – Z Wards
You can also find out more about common childhood illnesses and wellbeing.
Supporting young people’s mental health
If you are looking for support with your mental health and wellbeing for you or someone you care for visit Kent and Medway’s mental wellbeing information hub. The hub is an online one-stop place to help signpost you to support and services.
If you are 10-25 years and want to chat to someone about your mental health? The Emerge Advocacy team are there to help 10 to 25-year olds.