 Audrey Emerton, the South East Thames Regional Chief nursing officer between 1979 and 1990, guided the replacement programme, and from the early 1980s on nearly a thousand residents were resettled to other hospitals, hostels, small group homes and local facilities.In August 1988 the last residents were transferred and the hospital finally shut its doors.The buildings have been entirely demolished and the new Darent Valley Hospital has been built on part of the site.