Dr Laurence Maiden BSc (Hons), MB BS, MD, FRCP

Physician & Gastroenterologist

Tunbridge Wells & West Kent

Dr Maiden is one of the senior consultants in the Department of Gastroenterology at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. He is one of two accredited consultant colonoscopists for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in Tunbridge Wells. He specialises in endoscopy, colonoscopy, capsule endoscopy ('Pill Cam') and in particular, interventional endoscopy (polyp removal) and enteroscopy of the small bowel.

Dr Maiden trained at University College and Middlesex School of Medicine, London, gaining a BSc in Anatomy and Basic Medical Sciences before graduating as a doctor in 1993. Completing his general medical training in Poole, Dorset, he returned to London and South East Thames to complete his specialist training at the Kent & Sussex, Guy’s & St Thomas’, King’s College and Lewisham Hospitals. He is dual accredited in both General (Internal) Medicine and Gastroenterology. His research of small bowel pathology, including capsule endoscopy and faecal calprotectin, at King's College London culminated in the post graduate, Master's Degree of Doctor of Medicine in 2008. In this time he gained considerable experience in capsule endoscopy and is considered a national opinion on the subject.

Dr Maiden has been a consultant at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital since December 2008. Taking on the lead for Nutrition in 2008 he developed pathways for the management of patients requiring specialised feeding (enteral and parenteral) as well as those with eating disorders. He oversaw the management of all patients with intestinal failure who required intravenous, total parenteral nutrition (TPN) or ‘artificial feeding’. He then took on the lead for endoscopy and oversaw the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) accreditation of the endoscopy units at both Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone hospitals. This led to his tenure as Lead Physician at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in 2011 before being appointed to Clinical Director for Specialist Medicine and Elderly Care in 2016. He was promoted to Chief of Medicine and Emergency Care in 2018 and stepped down in September 2024 having had responsibility for 3 directorates, more than 100 consultants, 150 junior doctors and 300 nurses in his Division.

Dr Maiden is happy to receive referrals on all aspects of gastroenterology (stomach and bowels) and hepatology (liver), including small bowel pathology and nutrition.