Guy's Hospital

Summary

Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.

Guy's Hospital
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Guy's Hospital entrance with Boland House on the left and the Chapel on the right
Guy's Hospital is located in London Borough of Southwark
Guy's Hospital
Shown in Southwark
Geography
LocationGreat Maze Pond, Southwark SE1 9RT, London, England
Organisation
Care systemNHS England
TypeTeaching
Affiliated universityKing's College London / KCLMS
Services
Emergency departmentNo
Beds400[1]
Public transit accessLondon Underground National Rail London Bridge
History
Opened1721; 303 years ago (1721)
Links
Websitewww.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk

It is a large teaching hospital and is, with St Thomas' Hospital and King's College Hospital, the location of King's College London GKT School of Medical Education.

The hospital's Tower Wing (originally known as Guy's Tower) was, when built in 1974, the tallest hospital building in the world, standing at 148.65 metres (487.7 ft) with 34 floors. The tower was overtaken as the world's tallest healthcare-related building by The Belaire in New York City in 1988. As of June 2019, the Tower Wing, which remains one of the tallest buildings in London, is the world's fifth-tallest hospital building.[2]

History edit

The hospital dates from 1721, when it was founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy, who had made a fortune as a printer of Bibles and greatly increased it by speculating in the South Sea Bubble.[3] It was originally established as a hospital to treat "incurables" discharged from St Thomas' Hospital. Guy had been a governor and benefactor of St Thomas' and his fellow governors supported his intention by granting the south-side of St Thomas Street for a peppercorn rent for 999 years.[4] Following his death in 1724, Thomas Guy was entombed at the hospital's chapel (also dating from the 18th century), in a tomb featuring a marble sculpture by John Bacon.[4]

The original buildings formed a courtyard facing St Thomas Street, comprising the hall on the east side and the chapel, Matron's House and Surgeon's House on the west side. The original main buildings were built by the King's Master Mason, John Deval, in 1739.[5]

A bequest of £180,000 by William Hunt in 1829, one of the largest charitable bequests in England in historic terms, allowed for a further hundred beds to be accommodated.[4] Hunt's name was given to the southern expansion of the hospital buildings which took place in 1850.[4] Two inner quadrangles were divided by a cloister which was later restyled and dedicated to the hospital's members who fell in the First World War. The east side comprised the care wards and the "counting house" with the governors' Burfoot Court Room. The north-side quadrangle is dominated by a statue of Lord Nuffield (1877–1963) who was the chairman of governors for many years and also a major benefactor.[6]

In 1879-1880 the 'Guy's Hospital dispute' between matron Margaret Burt and hospital medical staff highlighted how doctors sometimes felt that their authority was being challenged by new-style matrons.[7][8][9][10][11] Florence Nightingale advocated that these new trained matrons had full control and discipline over their nursing staff. Margaret Burt ultimately resigned, but this was not an isolated episode and other matrons experienced similar issues, such as Eva Luckes.[12]

In 1974, the hospital added the 34-storey Guy's Tower and 29-storey Guy's House: this complex was designed by Watkins Gray.[13] The Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, which is dedicated to improving outcomes of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury, was opened by the Princess Royal in December 2004.[14]

In October 2005 children's departments moved to the Evelina London Children's Hospital in the grounds next to St Thomas's close to the Palace of Westminster.[15] A new cancer centre, designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and built by Laing O'Rourke at a cost of £160 million, was completed in April 2016.[16]

Facilities edit

Tower Wing
 
Tower Wing, after exterior refurbishment
 
General information
StatusCompleted
LocationSouthwark
Coordinates51°30′12″N 00°05′13″W / 51.50333°N 0.08694°W / 51.50333; -0.08694
Current tenantsGuy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Construction started1968
Completed1974
OwnerNational Health Service
Height148.65 metres (487.7 ft)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Watkins Gray

Medical services at the Guy's site are now concentrated in the buildings to the east of Great Maze Pond: these buildings, which are connected, are known as Tower Wing, Bermondsey Wing, Southwark Wing and Borough Wing.[17] The Cancer Centre is in a separate building just to the south.[17] To the west of the Great Maze Pond is Guy's Campus which forms part of King's College London.[17]

At 148.65 metres (487.7 ft) high,[18] Guy's Tower (now called the Tower Wing) regained its tallest hospital building in the world status in 2014.[19] It has since been surpassed by the Outpatient Center at the Houston Methodist Hospital, in Houston, USA at 156.05 metres (512.0 ft).[20]

Notable people who worked or studied at Guy's edit

Arms edit

Coat of arms of Guy's Hospital
 
Notes
Granted 24 May 1725 to the Corporation for the Management and Disposition of the Charities of Thomas Guy of London. [23]
Crest
On a wreath of the colours a woman sitting accompanied with three children Proper habited Azure being the emblem of Charity.
Escutcheon
Sable on a chevron Or between three leopards' heads Argent each crowned with an Eastern crown of the second as many fleurs-de-lis Azure.
Supporters
On either side an angel Proper habited Argent the hair and wings Or each holding a book Proper the clasps Gold.
Motto
Dare Quam Accipere (Give rather than receive)

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: Vital Statistics". Archived from the original on 25 September 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
  2. ^ "Tallest Health Building". Emporis. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  3. ^ Solkin, David H. (1 September 1996). "Samaritan or Scrooge? The Contested Image of Thomas Guy in Eighteenth-Century England". The Art Bulletin. 78 (3): 467–484. doi:10.1080/00043079.1996.10786698. ISSN 0004-3079. S2CID 227272839. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d "'Guy's Hospital', in Survey of London: Volume 22, Bankside (The Parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark), ed. Howard Roberts and Walter H Godfrey". London: British History Online. 1950. pp. 36–42. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  5. ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.128
  6. ^ "Viscount Nuffield". London Remembers. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  7. ^ Waddington, Keir (1995). 'The Nursing Dispute at Guy's Hospital, 1879–1880'. The Journal of The Society for The Social History of Medicine. pp. 211–230.
  8. ^ Tesseyman, Hallett, and Brooks (2017). "'Crisis at Guy's Hospital (1880) and the nature of nursing work'". Nursing Inquiry. 24 (4): 1–8. doi:10.1111/nin.12203. PMID 28544051. S2CID 3986745. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Wildman, Stuart (2021). "'Were they to have petticoat government in the hospital?' The reform of nursing in nineteenth-century Lincoln". Women's History Review. 9: 1–19.
  10. ^ Moore, Judith (1988). A Zeal for Responsibility; the Struggle for Professional Nursing in Victorian England, 1863–1883. London: The University of Georgia Press.
  11. ^ Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons’? A study of Eva Lückes’s influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
  12. ^ "Papers of Miss Eva C E Luckes (1854-1919). Matron of the London Hospital". National Archives. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  13. ^ "FindArticles.com – CBSi". findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  14. ^ "King's Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases opens" (PDF). Comment. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Evelina London Children's Hospital". Structurae. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  16. ^ "Laing O'Rourke hands over Guy's cancer centre". Building. 21 April 2016. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  17. ^ a b c "Campus maps:King's College London". King's College London. 28 June 2006. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  18. ^ "Guys Hospital, London – Building #100". Skyscrapernews.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  19. ^ "Guy's Lifts Tower regains its title as world's tallest hospital building". www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  20. ^ "Methodist Outpatient Care Center". Emporis. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  21. ^ Hazell, Jonathan (23 February 1994). "Obituary: Graham Fraser". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 September 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  22. ^ "King's College London – Portering & philosophy". www.kcl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  23. ^ "Guy's Hospital". Heraldry of the World. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.

External links edit

  • Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
  • Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation
  • Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases
  • Lists of Guy's Hospital students