Our future hospice
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Future-proofing your hospice care for years to come
Plans are progressing to relocate Heart of Kent Hospice from our current Aylesford site to a purpose-built centre in Linton.
As with our existing hospice, we will continue to provide palliative and end of life care - ensuring terminally ill people benefit from the expertise and support of our specialist teams of nurses, doctors, and palliative care consultants. Equally, it will be the base from which our specialist community nursing team will work alongside district nurses, GPs, and hospitals to support those who are living in our community.
The new hospice at Greensand Place will enable us to prepare for the growing need for specialist palliative and end-of-life care in our community and ensure that everyone living with a terminal illness can achieve the best quality of life.
We will form part of a new development in Linton near Coxheath, which is in the centre of our catchment area, making it more accessible to our whole community. The location is accessible for terminally ill people and their loved ones, with increased and improved parking facilities aimed at reducing anxiety and stress during visits.
The new hospice will be beautiful, welcoming, and comforting, full of natural light and embodying everything that can be therapeutic and restorative in a building. Sustainable, with strong eco-credentials, our aim is for it to cost less to run than the existing building.
We are delighted that the Reserve Matters application for our future hospice was approved in November 2025. Following this, fundraising for the new hospice has now begun, and we will launch our Capital Campaign with donors and supporters. Our target is to raise £12 million towards the estimated project cost of £18.5 million. The remainder of the funds comes from the fantastic £3 million legacy donation from Edwina and David Bicker, the sale of Heart of Kent Hospice, and the hospice’s own contribution.
We want to thank all those who have already shown interest and supported our plans at this pivotal moment in Heart of Kent Hospice’s history.
If you would like to see more detailed plans, share your thoughts with us, or make a donation, please contact:
- Erica Snow
Head of Capital Campaign
erica.snow@hokh.co.uk
Latest news about our future hospice at Greensands Place
Why Heart of Kent Hospice needs to move to a new location:
Please note, the images below are an artist's impression of what the hospice might look like.
Rear view of Inpatient Unit
Ariel view of full site
Rear view and surrounding grounds
Why do we need a new hospice in Greensand Place?
Heart of Kent Hospice opened 35 years ago because the people of this community were resolute in their determination to make palliative and end-of-life care available to terminally ill people and their loved ones. Our need for a new purpose-built hospice grows each week. Our existing hospice building, which was fit for purpose when it opened in 1991, is limited with no room for expansion as we are constrained to the edge of the site.
Our care now covers a catchment area of 226 miles and over 266,000 people. In a few years’ time there will be more older people living in our catchment area. People are living longer with terminal illnesses - and often with more than one diagnosis. The hospice will be equipped to cope with the increasing demands for palliative and end-of-life care in our community.
Demand for our services is at an all-time high and is expected to increase as our population becomes increasingly older. People are also living longer with terminal illnesses which means they often have more complex needs than in the past. A typical hospice patient may now be living with cancer, heart disease and dementia.
End-of-life care is very different to how it was more than three decades ago. The needs and expectations of terminally ill people and their loved-ones have changed, and so has standard guidance for what modern healthcare environments should be like.
The hospice team strives to respond to these challenges with the highest quality care. But right now, it’s not easy, and it’s only going to get harder. Some of the reasons we need to move include:
- The building requires frequent repairs which are costly and disruptive, and the heating, plumbing and electrical systems don’t use energy efficiently.
- The bedrooms and other spaces are cramped and outdated.
- It isn’t practical to upgrade the current building because it’s hemmed in by other developments – there’s no room for expansion.
If you’d like to learn more about the hospice, our future plans, or how to make a donation, you can contact:
- Ann-Marie Kelly, Chief Executive – ann-marie.kelly@hokh.co.uk
- Erica Snow, Head of Capital Campaign – erica.snow@hokh.co.uk
- Phone: 01622 790195
We are creating an art installation at the new hospice!
We'd love your thoughts to help us capture the essence of our hospice within the artwork.
Background
Your hospice was built over 35 years ago thanks to the people of this community who were determined to see better care for people who were terminally ill.
Since then, Heart of Kent Hospice has provided specialist, compassionate care for over 62,000 people and their loved-ones when there was no cure or further treatment available to them.
Our care is provided wherever patients wish to be. That may be in their own homes, in a care home, at drop-in sessions at the hospice or in our 10-bedded Inpatient Unit. All these services are completely free of charge.
Where will the new hospice be?
- It will be in Linton, along the eastern boundary of Coxheath village – just under half a kilometre west of Loose.
- The address is Greensand Place, Heath Road, Linton, ME17 4NU, next to the existing Greensand Health Centre.
- The site is almost in the centre of our catchment area.
What else will be on the site near the hospice?
Planning permission has been granted for four complementary but independent elements on the development. The hospice will be one of those elements. The others, which are not hospice-led, will be:
- A 73-bedded extra-care home.
- A 14-unit block for young autistic adults to live with independence
- Up to 56 affordable bungalows for older people.
What will the new hospice look like and how will it be better?
Here are some of the features you can look forward to seeing in the new hospice:
- A beautiful, modern building that will be uplifting and full of natural light. – a place where people will feel safe and reassured from the moment they arrive.
- A building that is sympathetic to traditional Kentish architecture and will fit into the surrounding landscape.
- Large, landscaped gardens and lots of woodland.
- A big public café with spectacular views over the Greensand Ridge valley.
- 12 individual bedrooms on the Inpatient Unit (two more than we have now).
- Each bedroom will conform to modern healthcare requirements and have ensuite facilities and direct access to the gardens.
- Bigger bedrooms will allow more space for visitors and the beds will extend into ‘cuddle beds’.
- Improved working space and base for the Hospice Community Services Team.
- Plenty of large rooms for Outpatient services as well as smaller rooms for when privacy is required.
- Interior spaces will be flexible – adapting for use for events and community activities.
- Separate access to IPU so that patients and visitors can choose which entrance they use.
- Much better access and parking facilities.
Why will there only be an additional two beds in the Inpatient Unit? Isn’t this an opportunity to build more?
- Our forecasts indicate that 12 beds will be the optimum number for the Inpatient Unit since most of our patients prefer to be cared for and to die at home.
- An additional two beds will mean that those people who do need to come to the Inpatient Unit can be admitted more promptly.
- We will be able to deliver a 12-bed Inpatient Unit without needing to increase the number of colleagues in the team. This is important for our financial sustainability.
- The building has been designed to allow for a further extension in future, should it be required.
Will you continue to run all the existing services?
Yes, we plan to continue to run all our existing inpatient and outpatient services
We constantly review our services to ensure they are meeting the needs of the people of our community, and that they are cost-effective.
The new building will provide opportunities to expand or improve existing services and its design is as flexible as possible to allow for this.
How easy will it be to get to the new hospice?
We know that many people find it difficult to get to our existing site, so this is an important consideration.
For people who come by car, there will be better access roads and parking.
There will be a drop-off point at the main entrance and easy access to a separate entrance to the Inpatient Unit.
There is a regular bus service from Maidstone Town centre to Coxheath (routes 89 and 5 Arriva) which take an estimated 30 minutes.
The site is closer to the centre of the hospice’s catchment area than the current site.
Will the new site create any additional congestion issues to the local community at peak times? What increased pressure will there be on the Linton crossroads?
DHA Planning have undertaken an analysis of the junction at Linton Crossroads
It’s acknowledged that hospice traffic may have a minor impact on the junction, but not to a level that would be harmful or cause severe congestion. The modelling shows that vehicle movement to and from the hospice would be spread across the day rather than all happening at peak hours.
Will the carpark be big enough?
There will be around 90 parking spaces. KCC Highways have a formula for allocating spaces and this is the maximum they will allow. It’s twice as many as we have now.
How much will it cost to build the hospice?
The current anticipated build cost is £18,269 million.
The hospice hopes to be able to contribute some funds from reserves (accumulated thanks to gifts in Wills), plus the money from the sale of the existing building.
A legacy of £3 million has given a strong start to the fundraising.
We are working towards an outstanding fundraising target of £12 million.
Where will the funding come from and what is the expected timeframe?
The project received full planning approval in November 2025. Full planning can be viewed here and the reference is: 25/502125/REM. Now the priority is to secure the financial support to fund the project.
We are currently seeking leadership donations which will enable us to make the financial commitment to progress with the project. These donations may come from Trusts and Foundations, corporate supporters and individuals wishing to make a truly transformational gift. Gifts in Wills are already helping to mobilise the project.
Everyone in this community can choose to help make the new Heart of Kent Hospice a reality. We will be asking all those who care about the hospice to get behind the fundraising campaign once the ‘leadership donation’ phase is completed. Please watch this space!
The majority of the funding must be secured before work on the building can begin. Once work starts, we estimate it will take 18-24 months to complete.
What happens if you can’t raise all the funds necessary for the build?
It isn't an option not to build the new hospice. It costs too much to keep the existing hospice running. The fundraising campaign will keep going until enough money is raised.
What will happen to the old hospice site?
It will be sold and the proceeds will go towards the cost of the new build. We will close one door as the new one opens.
What will you do to acknowledge that many people feel a close attachment to the existing hospice building?
We are learning from other hospices who have found beautiful ways to preserve the memories that were made in a previous building. We are considering all these ideas and will consult with colleagues, volunteers and patients’ families and friends to ensure we get this right.
Share with us
As we prepare the detailed design for our new hospice, we are eager to ensure that it will be a special and welcoming hub for our community. Please do get in touch to offer suggestions and support to build Maidstone’s new hospice.
Get in touch*Source: Kent County Council