Great Ormond Street Hospital

Description

Who we are
The child first and always has been our motto for the last hundred years
Great Ormond Street Hospital is an international centre of excellence in child healthcare and together with our research partner the UCL Institute of Child Health we form the UKs only academic biomedical research centre specialising in paediatrics

Since its formation in 1852 the hospital has been dedicated to childrens healthcare and to finding new and better ways to treat childhood illnesses

What we do

Each year there are over 170000 patient visits to the hospital Most of the children cared for are referred from other hospitals throughout the UK and overseas There are more than fifty different clinical specialties at the hospital

Finding new and better treatments and cures for childhood illnesses has always been central to our work Take a look at our research review here to find out more

The hospital is also at the forefront of paediatric training in the UK We train more childrens nurses than any other hospital and play a leading role in training paediatric doctors

Our Mission and Values
Our mission is to provide worldclass clinical care and training pioneering new research and treatments in partnership with others for the benefit of children in the UK and worldwide

In everything we do we work hard to live up to our three core values pioneering worldclass and collaborative

Read about the history of Great Ormond Street Hospital here and meet some of our patients to learn more about what we do Or visit the publications section to read our latest annual report and research review

History

The NHS at 60
How we were then and how we are now As the NHS celebrates its 60th birthday we look at some of the dramatic changes that have occurred at Great Ormond Street Hospital since 1948

In the post war years our part of Camden became less of a residential area We gradually concentrated our work on specialist services becoming a regional and national centre of expertise as local hospitals developed local childrens expertise

In 1948
We were a charity hospital charging the better off and seeing the poorer families for free or for reduced charges We had a staff member called an almoner who interviewed families before telling them how much they would have to pay

Now as a part of the NHS our expertise is available to all without charge Our charity continues to raise funds to help us improve our facilities for our patients and their families

In 1948
Visiting hours for families were those laid down in Victorian times only 90 minutes on Sunday afternoons

We know how important it is for both parents and children to be close to each other during a hospital stay and so we offer accommodation for parents There are no visiting hours for parents carers brothers and sisters who are welcome at any time Friends and other family members can visit any time between 10am and 8pm

In 1948
Great Ormond Street Hospital was not a pioneer in women consultants waiting until 1945 to appoint the first peacetime female consultant a psychiatrist Dr Mildred Creak

We have a female chief executive Dr Jane Collins who is also a medical consultant by background

In 1948
Open heart surgery on children was impossible

We opened the first UK childrens heart surgery centre in the 1950s Today we are the largest cardiac centre for children in the UK and the largest heart transplant centre for children in the world

In 1948
While some parts of genetic inheritance were quite well understood the structure of DNA was still unknown

We now use gene therapy to treat children with inherited failures of the immune system one of only three centres in the world offering this treatment

In 1948
We had just set up the Institute of Child Health to help research new treatments and cures

The Institute of Child Health is now part of UCL and with the hospital is the largest centre for research into childhood illness outside the US