Darent Valley Hospital

Darent Valley Hospital
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Darent Valley Hospital
Geography
LocationDartford, Kent, England
Coordinates51°26′06″N 0°15′30″E / 51.4350°N 0.2584°E / 51.4350; 0.2584
Organisation
Care systemNational Health Service
TypeGeneral
Services
Yes
Beds463
Helipads
HelipadYes
History
Opened14 December 2000
Links
Websitewww.dgt.nhs.uk/visiting Edit this at Wikidata

Darent Valley Hospital is a district general hospital in Dartford, Kent, England. It is managed by Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust.

History

The hospital, which was built to replace Joyce Green Hospital, stands on the site of the former Darenth Park Hospital, founded by the Metropolitan Asylums Board as "Darenth School" in 1878.[2] The Regional Health Board agreed to close Darenth in 1973, but the last patients did not leave until 1988.[2] The vast Victorian complex was then demolished.[2]

The new buildings were procured under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 1997, the first hospital project to use this form of procurement.[3] They were designed by Nightingale Paulley Associates and built by Carillion[4] at a cost of £94 million.[5] The new hospital, which replaced the services previously provided at West Hill Hospital, Dartford and Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford, was officially opened by Alan Milburn, Secretary of State for Health, on 14 December 2000.[6]

A new on-site heart centre was opened on 2 January 2007.[7]

On 29 September 2024 a new acute stroke unit (ASU) and hyper-acute stroke unit (HASU) opened at the hospital, as part of a reconfiguration of stroke services in Kent. Since 2 December 2024, the service also serves the London Borough of Bexley, with all patients with a suspected stroke now taken to Darent Valley for treatment rather than Princess Royal University Hospital.[8]

Services

A small number of services at the hospital are provided by other trusts:

Facilities

In the main foyer of the hospital there are Costa Coffee, M&S Food and WHSmith outlets and a charity shop run by the local hospice.[11][12]

Public transport

The hospital is served by London Buses routes 96 and 428, which run between the nearby Bluewater Shopping Centre, the hospital, Dartford station and Woolwich and Erith respectively.[13] Fastrack routes B and N and Brookline Coaches route 479 also serve the hospital.[14][15]

References

  1. ↑ "GKT School of Medical Education Clinical placement sites" (PDF). King's College London. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "Darenth Park Hospital". Lost Hospitals of London. June 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  3. ↑ The PFI contract for the new Dartford and Gravesham Hospital. National Audit Office. 1999. ISBN 978-0-10-266199-6. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Darent Valley Hospital: The PFI contract in action". National Audit Office. 10 February 2005. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "NHS capital expenditure and the private finance initiative—expansion or contraction?" (PDF). British Medical Journal. 3 July 1999. p. 49. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "Darent Valley Hospital". Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "NHS Finances". Hansard. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "Improvement to stroke services in Bexley announced". South East London Integrated Care System. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  9. ↑ "Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery". Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Other locations". Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  11. ↑ "Medirest @ Darent Valley Hospital K865". Costa Coffee. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "Dartford NHS Hospital". Marks & Spencer. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "Visiting Darent Valley Hospital". Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "Fastrack Summary Network Map". Fastrack. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Route 479". Brookline Coaches. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
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