Memorial Hospital, Woolwich

This article is about Memorial Hospital in Woolwich. For other hospitals in Greenwich, see Greenwich Hospital (disambiguation).

The Memorial Hospital, Woolwich (sometimes also called the Greenwich Memorial Hospital) is a hospital situated on Shooter's Hill in southeast London in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Today run by the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, it mainly functions as a day centre for the elderly while also offering facilities for psychiatric patients

History

The hospital was built in the mid 1920s on Telegraph Field (so named as it was once used as a semaphore station) to replace the Woolwich and Plumstead Cottage Hospital, earlier plans having been postponed due to the outbreak of World War I. After the war, a fund was set up to raise the anticipated £50,000 cost of the new building to be a memorial for the war dead.[1] A Hospital fund was set up to raise £50,000 - the anticipated cost of the new building.[2]

In 1925 the Duke of Connaught laid the foundation stone and, in 1927, the 112-bed Woolwich and District Hospital Association Cottage Hospital was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth).[3] By 1930 it was known as the Woolwich and District War Memorial Hospital, then (1931) the Woolwich and District Hospital Association War Memorial Hospital and (from 1938) the Memorial Hospital.[2]

During World War 2 it became a military hospital (in 1944 it had 137 beds), providing back-up facilities for the nearby Royal Herbert Hospital. In 1948, it joined the National Health Service as a general hospital. For some years in the 1960s it specialised in surgery, before transferring medical beds to the nearby Brook General Hospital and becoming a geriatric hospital in the 1970s.[2]

Since at least 2005, it has been run by the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust,[4] and mainly functions as a day centre for the elderly while also offering facilities for psychiatric patients.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Twentieth-century war memorials: Woolwich Memorial Hospital". Royal Borough of Greenwich. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Memorial Hospital, Woolwich". Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Woolwich War Memorial Hospital: Opened by the Duke of York". British Medical Journal 3488 (2): 886. 12 November 1927. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "War Memorial Hospital (June 2005)". GREENWICH INDUSTRIAL HISTORY. GIHS. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Memorial Hospital (Greenwich)". NHS Choices. Retrieved 24 March 2016.

Coordinates: 51°28′53″N 0°01′22″E / 51.4815°N 0.0229°E / 51.4815; 0.0229

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.