Whittington Hospital
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates
Whittington Hospital is a district general and teaching hospital of UCL Medical School and Middlesex University School of Health and Social Sciences. Located in Archway, London, it is managed by Whittington Health NHS Trust, operating as Whittington Health, an integrated care organisation providing hospital and community health services in the north London boroughs of Islington and Haringey. Its Jenner Building, a former smallpox hospital, is a Grade II listed building.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref>
History
.jpg){kind=link}
The first hospital on the site was St Anthony's Chapel and Lazar House, a facility built for lepers in 1473.<ref name=arch>Template:Cite web</ref> It closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century.<ref name=arch/>
The current hospital has its origins in the Small Pox and Vaccination Hospital, built in 1848.<ref name=lost>Template:Cite web</ref> It was designed by the architect Samuel Daukes as one of two isolation hospitals in London (the other was the London Fever Hospital in Liverpool Road) intended to care for smallpox patients during the epidemic at that time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The hospital, instituted in 1746, was removed from the original central London site to make way for the building of King’s Cross station.<ref>Whitehead, Andrew How the Whittington site was home to Highgate's vaccination hospital Hampstead & Highgate Express, 18 April 2021</ref>
After smallpox treatment services transferred to Clare Hall Manor at South Mimms in 1896, the hospital was officially re-opened by the Duke and Duchess of York as a workhouse infirmary with the addition of a large adjacent building in 1900.<ref name=lost/> Originally called Highgate Hill Infirmary, in 1914, it became Islington Infirmary and by 1920, five linked blocks had been added to the south of the original building. The hospital was taken over by the London County Council in 1930 and renamed St Mary's Hospital.<ref name=lost/>
In 1948, St Mary's Hospital (subsequently known as St Mary's Wing) amalgamated with Highgate Hospital (subsequently known as Highgate Wing) and Archway Hospital (subsequently known as Archway Wing) to form the Whittington Hospital.<ref name=lost/> The three hospitals had been brought together under the control of the Archway Group Hospital Management Committee on the establishment of the National Health Service in 1946. The combined facility was named after Sir Richard Whittington, an English merchant, who had left a large sum to charitable causes supporting people in need.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1977, a new block containing accident and emergency and outpatient facilities was opened by the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board on the St Mary's Wing site on Highgate Hill.<ref name=lost/> Further expansion took place in 1983, when the City of London Maternity Hospital was closed and amalgamated with the Obstetric Unit to form the City of London Maternity Unit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Great Northern Building, containing modern wards and education facilities, was completed in 1992.<ref name=lost/>
In 1998, the Archway Wing was sold to University College London and Middlesex University allowing them to form the Archway campus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and, in 2004, the Highgate Wing was chosen by Camden and Islington Community NHS Trust as the site for Highgate Mental Health Centre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
With all clinical activities consolidated on the central St Mary's Wing site, a new clinical block and main entrance on Magdala Avenue were procured under the private finance initiative contract.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The works, which were undertaken by Jarvis Construction at a cost of £30 million, were completed in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Performance
Following an inspection in December 2015 of the Trust and its services, Whittington Health was rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission in July 2016 – with caring rated as Outstanding.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Trust has a current deficit of £5.9m for the year ending 2016/17 – £200k worse than its planned position.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Legacy
A statue commissioned by the Nubian Jak Community Trust, in collaboration with the Whittington Health NHS Trust and Haringey Council, to honour the contributions of Windrush and Commonwealth NHS nurses and midwives, was unveiled outside the hospital in September 2021, in association with the launch of an anthology compiled by Jak Beula, entitled Nursing a Nation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Notable staff
- Edith Cavell (1865 – 1915), British nurse celebrated for treating soldiers from both sides during the First World War and assisting 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium, for which she was tried and executed. Night superintendent in 1901 at Highgate Hospital, which became the Whittington Hospital.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Trevor Clay CBE (1936–1994), General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing from 1982 to 1989, Matron Whittington Hospital, from 1969 to 1970.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
See also
References
External links
Template:University College London Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- 1473 establishments in England
- 1848 establishments in England
- NHS hospitals in London
- Hospital buildings completed in 1848
- Health in the London Borough of Islington
- Hospitals established in 1848
- Poor law infirmaries
- Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington
- Medical schools in London
- University College London