NORFOLK

Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters has received permission from the state’s health department to add 26 beds to the Norfolk facility.

Twenty surgical and medical beds will be added, along with six beds in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital announced Tuesday the approval of a public certificate of need, which was signed by Virginia’s Deputy Health Commissioner James Burns last Wednesday.

The approval brings the hospital’s licensed bed capacity to 212.

The expansion, which will entail renovating existing space, is expected to be finished by November of 2010.

CHKD is the only hospital in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina dedicated solely to children, and has experienced a space crunch during the past few years.

CHKD submitted an application in January for a certificate of public need, a document required by the Virginia Department of Health to expand medical facilities.