Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth: A History of Excellence in Healthcare

Welcome to the Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth

Every visit to our Hospital helps to support on-site Hospice, St John’s, which cares for over 2,000 patients and their families every year for free.

The Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth was founded in 1856. Our focus has always been on one thing – excellence of care.

History of Our HospitalDating back to its foundation through the Sisters of the Crimea, The Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth is one of the UK’s foremost independent private hospitals. Originally sited where Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children now stands, we have a proud and distinguished history, serving through the two great wars and continually providing excellent care for the local community.

The Hospital was founded in 1856 by Cardinal Wiseman, under the care of the Sisters of Mercy, an order of nuns, who worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean war. The Hospital pioneered the use of advanced nursing techniques

to help the sick, the dying and the needy.

Sister Catherine McAuley

Florence Nightingale

The Sisters brought to the Hospital not only the compassion, which was key to their religious background, but also the professionalism,

which they had learned from Florence Nightingale.

Mother Gonzaga Barrie

Sister M Anastasia Kelly

The Sisters of Mercy continued to hold the nursing responsibility for the next 135 years. From them we gain our tradition of nursing with expertise and cheerful compassion –

holistic care within the Catholic ethos.

Cardinal Wiseman’s vision was to provide a Hospital that chiefly cared for two classes of patients –

• Those suffering from incurable disease, especially when near death

• Those with maladies that, though not necessarily incurable, required long-term treatment

He reported at the time that hospitals catering for such patients were not readily available.

Cardinal Wiseman

Cardinal Wiseman’s vision began with the purchase of two houses, no's 46 & 47, in Great Ormond Street at the end of the Crimean War. Some of the Sisters of Mercy from Bermondsey who had been nursing our soldiers, were recruited to the new Hospital.

Convent of Mercy, Bermondsey, 1839

In 1864, Sir George Bowyer, a loyal supporter of the Hospital, proposed that he build a church and a convent for the Sisters on the grounds of the Hospital. The proposal was accepted and the church was built.

Sir George Bowyer

The Church of St John of Jerusalem, Great Ormond Street, built in 1864

The Hospital, hitherto the Hospital of St Elizabeth of Hungary, became the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem & St Elizabeth. Thereafter the Sisters wore the Cross of Malta on their habits.

Lord and Lady Brampton were major benefactors of the Hospital. Their inheritance was left to the Archbishop of Westminster for the work of this Hospital and was placed in the Brampton Trust. Much of the property of the Hospital belongs to the Brampton Trust which continues its support to this day.

Lord Brampton, 1884

There was an ever growing demand for the Hospital’s services. However, due its proximity to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, which adjoined the Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth, there was no room for expansion.

The Church of St John of Jerusalem Great Ormond Street, built in 1864

The decision was made to sell the land to Great Ormond Street Hospital and purchase a site in St John’s Wood, which had the advantage of having facilities where the Sisters and patients could be temporarily placed. The work of the Hospital could then be carried out without interruption whilst the permanent Hospital was built.

St John’s Wood site, 1897

It was also decided that the Chapel

should be moved brick by brick to the

new site in St John’s Wood.

Thus the Chapel here in the Hospital, is the original Chapel built

by Sir George Bowyer in Great Ormond Street in 1864.

The Church in its new location in St John’s Wood,

1900

Finished at a cost of £45,000 - equivalent to nearly £5million today

Extract from Our Hospitals and Charities Illustrated, June 1904

A Hostel of Peace

The Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth

‘A special feature [of the Hospital] is the open-air ward for tuberculosis patients. Here, Summer and Winter, the fresh air blows through the ever-open windows, and the patients who can rise spend the sunny hours of the day on the flat roof which looks over miles of London to the south as far as St.Paul’s Cathedral, and beyond it to the glistening towers of the Crystal Palace, and to the north over the green slopes of Primrose Hill and Hampstead and Harrow…’

‘…There are also several delightful rooms for paying patients of moderate income.There is a resident medical officer and several visiting doctors, but inside the building all the duties, including those of porter, messenger and lift attendance, are fulfilled by women…’

One of the rooms for paying patients, 1904

‘…The sisters are trained hospital nurses; ten of the twenty-three employed have received their certificates at large general hospitals, and those under the sisters learn from them and attend medical and surgical lectures given by the doctors.

Sometimes when pressure is great, lay helpers are taken, but as a rule there is little change in the staff...’

The Children’s Ward, 1904

‘…The Hospital was moved to its present perfect quarters in 1898. The word ‘perfect’ is no exaggeration, for its beautiful wards, sanitary arrangements, dispensary (with three qualified dispensing sisters), and operating theatre, are all perfect of their kind.’

Operating Theatre 1904 – described as ‘the envy of every doctor who visits it’

The Convent, Hospital and Church as seen from Circus Road, circa 1914

The Hospital as seen from Grove End Road circa 1914. The garden area is the site of the current patient car park. Loudoun Hall, the building on the right hand side of the

photograph was demolished in 1990 to make way for the current Main Hospital Building.

Soldiers on the ward & outside the Hospital, 1915

Photographs courtesy of H. J. Wyatt

Between 1914-18 the Hospital treated 2,499 military patients

After the First World War, the reputation of the Hospital continued to grow.In 1922 the General Nursing Council for England and Wales recognised the Hospital as a training school, with one of the Sisters being chosen to set up a School of Radiology.

The Tetley Theatre, opened in 1925

No. 34 Circus Road, purchased in 1927, to

expand the Hospital as demand increased for

its services.

Pharmacy opened in 1927

A radiotherapy device used for Radium Treatment, installed in 1929.

X-ray Room One circa 1929The room is still in use today

(but with new technology!)

By 1939, the Hospital’s capacity had grown to 103 beds.

Newspaper article from May 1948:

‘The Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth celebrates its 50th year on its present site in St. John's Wood, London, on May 28. On that day Cardinal Griffin will open a maternity department in the Hospital with accommodation for ten patients in addition to doctors, reception and labour rooms.The section will be in charge of the well-known Catholic obstetrician Mr. J. V. O'Sullivan. Earlier in the day the Cardinal will preside at a Solemn High Mass of thanksgiving, at which Canon Wood, rector of the parish, will officiate…’

‘…St. John's and St. Elizabeth's is famous throughout the world. By entering the field of maternity medicine it will be adding another important chapter to its long and distinguished work for the community. It will remain outside the National Health scheme and thus its Catholic character will be unimpaired. It therefore will continue its voluntary work and will depend on subscriptions and donations.’

In 1948, on the advice of Cardinal Griffin, the Hospital remained outside the National Health Service and was termed a “disclaimed hospital”.

Also in this year, telephones were installed for patients in all private rooms.

The Duke of Norfolk visited the Hospital in March 1965 as part of the Chapel’s 100 year anniversary

dedication and opened a new commemorative garden in the Hospital’s grounds.

Newspaper article from October 1980:

‘The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, London has raised £800,000 towards its ambitious £3.5 million redevelopment appeal. The proposed modernisation of the 80 year old building is to include a new twin operating theatre, a continuing care unit and greater comfort and privacy for the present 124 resident patients…’

‘…There are currently 40 paying patients and 84 patients who pay part or none of the costs. It hopes to provide more single rooms than before, enabling patients to receive more individual attention. This is in line with plans to concentrate more on very ill and terminal patients.’

The Queen Mother visited the Hospital

in June 1984 to unveil a plaque to commemorate the completion of the

Hospital's £3 million redevelopment

scheme, including a new consulting suite, additional operating

theatre, private patients' wing and

expanded renal section.

Sister Mare Melitus, Matron of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth

in London, introduces Queen Elizabeth the

Queen Mother to nursing staff during her visit to

the Hospital in June 1984.

Newspaper article from October 1984:

‘Not all private hospitals are the same and the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth is different. Of course we have everything that today's private patients expect, single rooms, bathrooms en suite, good food, comfortable surroundings, and attentive staff. And everything that consultants require, advanced medical facilities including twin operating theatres, pathology, radiology and physiotherapy, with experienced staff to match…’

‘…What really makes us different is our charity Hospice Unit, where we look after people regardless of their ability to pay or their faith.This Hospice is funded largely by the revenue from our Private Patients Unit, despite the charges being well below the limits set by the medical insurance companies. Which means that when you're treated at the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth, you're not only helping yourself, you're helping others.And that's very different.’

Princess Diana was invited for a tour of the Hospital and its

refurbished Hospice Unit in 1986.

Princess Diana signs the Hospice

visitors book during her tour in 1986.

Newspaper article from November 1988:

‘The Sisters of Mercy are to withdraw from the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth after an association of 133 years.At their recent General Chapter, the order reaffirmed the need to return to its “commitment to be with the poor and powerless. Only part of the Hospital activities directly serve the poor, and so the Congregation must now withdraw". The Hospital's trustees and board of management express in the statement their "deep regrets" at the sisters' departure.’

In 1991, The Queen Mother visited the Hospital to unveil a plaque commemorating the rebuilding of the Grove End Road

side of the Hospital.

Grove End Road view of the Hospital, 1991

Newspaper article from December 1992:

‘The success of a £3.5 million fundraising appeal in 1983/84 resulted in a metamorphosis: a large part of the building was completely restructured and a new wing was built. There are now 72 private rooms, cosy not clinical; a 19-bed acute ward; a large new outpatients department, various specialist units; a new restaurant/canteen for staff and visitors…’

‘…On the first floor, there is a NHS-funded ward, Our Lady of Mercy, which comes under the Parkside Health Authority. There are 15 beds, most of them occupied by elderly sufferers of Alzheimers disease; most are immobile and incapable of communication, and heartbreakingly vulnerable, but in a classic Nightingale-style ward (all beds in view of the staff) these helpless patients some of whom have been there for over a decade are nursed with a skill and compassion that is both a credit to the Hospital and to the health authority…’

‘…Although St John and St Elizabeth's is self-financing, it costs £1 million annually to run its new Hospice which cares for the terminally ill suffering from cancer, Aids, and Motor Neurone Disease.So there we have it: a symmetry of private medical care financing the highest standard of charitable care, plus the provision of an NHS ward. Remembering the written ethic of John and Lizzies: ‘The Mission of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth is to serve the sick and dying and to seek to care for the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of the total person, whatever their race, colour or creed.’

In 2007, the old Covent, now known as Brampton House, was developed to provide facilities for 30 Outpatient consulting rooms, an endoscopy suite, an NHS GP practice, a second main entrance, and a new Hospice Day Centre with offices and therapy rooms.

New waiting area and reception of Brampton House, built 2007.

In 2011, the old Outpatients department was transformed into an

urgent care centre to help continue our tradition of serving the community.

This private, walk-in, urgent care centre is a

much-needed facility and has already treated over

12,000 people offering no-wait access to

experienced A&E doctors.

In 2011, the Hospital refurbished its

Imaging Department, and became the first

private hospital in the UK to install a

3T MRI scanner. The Hospital also later

replaced its CT scanner by installing

a state of the art 256-slice scanner,

continuing our ethos of providing ultimate

standards of care and cutting edge

technology to the community.

The aim of the Hospital is the same now as it was when we were founded over 150 years ago –

To provide the highest quality health care for all those who seek it.

Thank you for reading about our truly unique Hospital.All profits fund our on-site Hospice, St John’s, which cares

for over 2,000 patients and their families every year for free.

St John’s Hospice is the only independent hospice in Central London. It costs £5million a year to keep its

vital services running.

Our Hospice has a 19 bed Inpatient Unit, which is free

for all who need its care.

Our Hospice, St John’s

Our Hospice@Home team is responsible

for caring for hundreds of terminally ill patients every year in the comfort of their

own homes.

Hospice@Home team winning at the Independent

Healthcare Awards 2012.

In October 2012, the Hospice launched

London’s only palliative care

ambulance to ensure patients who need to

come into the Hospice aren’t kept

waiting.

The Hospice also runs a Child Bereavement service, Day Services, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Complementary Therapies, Lymphoedema Service, Physiotherapy & Community Support.

For more information visit our websites:

www.hje.org.uk www.stjohnshopsice.org.uk