The New Victoria Hospital’s brand new wing, The Victoria Foundation Wing, was officially opened recently by HRH Princess Alexandra  at an afternoon tea reception held for over 200 guests and staff in the hospital’s garden courtyard.

Coincidentally it was almost thirty years to the day since the Princess had graced the hospital with her presence at the opening of the then newly completed Alexandra Ward, named in her honour. The hospital was absolutely delighted that HRH Princess Alexandra was able to perform an official opening once again. The event was also attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Kingston upon Thames, Mr and Mrs Geoff Austin.

For full details of all of the services on offer from the hospital go to NEW VICTORIA

The Victoria Foundation Wing is an extensive expansion to the independent, charity owned, private hospital situated in Kingston upon Thames. The new wing houses three state of the art operating theatres; an endoscopy theatre; a 2-bed high-dependency unit; a 6-bed recovery area and a 14-bed day surgery unit, bringing the total number of beds in the hospital to 35. The new day unit, the Charles Hutton Day Unit, is named after the hospital’s previous Chief Executive who ran the hospital for 32 years.

The wing also includes a brand new 128-slice CT Scanner complete with cardiac diagnostic software, which will be the fulcrum of a new Cardiac Diagnostic Centre. The CT Scanner has the dual benefits of using the lowest doses of radiation possible whilst providing high definition quality scans.

The second floor of the new building houses a brand new pathology laboratory, kitchen, staff dining-room, conference rooms and RMO’s flat.

The exciting development is the culmination of a £22m project which began in 2014 after the hospital recognised it needed to expand in order to meet the growing demand for its services as well as provide a complete update of its facilities.

Graham Ball, Chief Executive of New Victoria Hospital says of the build: “The four new theatres – three laminar flow operating theatres and one endoscopy theatre – replace our three small existing theatres. They will house the latest theatre equipment on the market and each has been designed with its own pre-anaesthesia area. They are extremely spacious and will provide a superb environment for the highly skilled Consultants that we have operating at the hospital.”

“The Day Surgery Unit is another super area. With so many operations now able to be performed as same-day procedures it enables us to provide an even more efficient service for our patients. It has been beautifully designed with a floor to ceiling curved glazed wall overlooking the Malden Golf Club.”

“The most important attribute of our hospital however has always been the expertise of our staff and the caring ambience that pervades throughout and I am delighted to say that we continue to achieve consistently excellent results in our patient surveys for our overall quality of care, with 99% rating us as excellent or very good. When the redevelopment is complete this summer, we will be able to be as proud of our physical environment as we are of our patient care.”

The expansion project will continue for one further year, completing in autumn 2017 with a new outpatient department and reception area; 12 consulting rooms, a new physiotherapy department and a new pharmacy.

The private, charity owned hospital is one of the few remaining independent hospitals in the country and has provided an excellent level of service to the local community for almost sixty years. Today it is frequently ranked by patients as one of the top private hospitals in London. In 2015 the hospital was shortlisted as a finalist in the Nursing Practice category of the national Laing Buisson Awards and in March 2016 went on to win a prestigious CHKS Top Hospital Award which celebrates the success of healthcare providers across the UK and internationally, rewarding important achievements in innovation, improvement and dedication to providing world-class healthcare.

“The hospital is committed to the provision of exceptional standards of care and service to its patients, whose individual needs and safety are our priority at all times. As such, the hospital operates within a rigorous quality framework which aims to continually review and evaluate practice to improve the outcomes of care for patients and ensure the health and wellbeing of patients, staff and visitors. Our recent nominations for these awards are a terrific reflection on all of our staff. ” concludes Graham Ball.