Great Ormond Street Hospital

On February 14, 1852, Dr. Charles West opened London England’s The Hospital for Sick Children. It was the first hospital in the country to provide inpatient care only to children. West was determined to reduce the approximate 20,000 children’s deaths occurring yearly in the country’s capital.

Thanks to the social networking of his day, West and his friends were able to attract patrons, donors, endowments, and unpaid senior medical and surgical staff. People of influence such as Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria helped raise the hospital’s public profile.

As the hospital grew in size on Great Ormond Street, neighbouring and new properties were added to expand the enterprise, the clientele multiplied in number, as did staff and the number of beds.

Today the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children sees over 200,000 patients a year. It offers over four dozen medical specialties and trains more children’s nurses than any other hospital program in the country. The hospital supports academic biomedical research and is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals. All from the determined effort of one doctor who shared his vision.

B Bondar / Real World Content Advantage