Our History: The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust

Our History

Below is an outline of the Trust's history. You can click on a year to find out what else was happening across the world, using Wikipedia and you can click on the pictures to see larger versions.

1817: Lewisham Hospital starts its life as a workhouse.
1872: Sydenham Children's Hospital, a hospital and home for sick children is opened by Miss Edith Elwes.
1897: Park Fever Hospital (later called Hither Green Hospital) opens for the treatment of infectious diseases such as scarlet fever or diphtheria.
1926: Her Majesty Queen Mary visits Sydenham Children's Hospital to open the hospital's nurses' home.
1932: C Block is built, providing 163 Maternity and Children's beds.
1935: On 14 June, Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, visits the hospital to open a £24,000 new wing.
1945: Opening of Dunoran Home, a pioneering home for the chronically ill.
1948: The NHS is formed (5 July 1948).
1950: The Park Hospital changes it name to Hither Green Hospital
1952: Grove Park Hospital opens it new £6,000 patients' recreation hall.
1954: Lewisham Hospital opens a premature baby unit for 12 babies
1956: Foundation stone for the new Outpatients Block is laid by Mr R Owen, Chairman of the Management Committee.
1957: A staff paging system is introduced at Lewisham-only the second hospital in the UK to have the system.; The League of Friends Committees formed at Grove Park, St John's and Hither Green Hospitals.
1958: The new Outpatients Department is opened at Lewisham Hospital in May by HRH Princess Margeret. This is built on the bomb-site of one of the ward blocks destroyed by a flying bomb in World War ll.
1964: The second part of a new building programme is completed at Lewisham, providing an extension of the Accident Department and waiting halls, more consulting rooms and a large, new X-ray Department.
1966: The new pharmacy and operating theatres open, as the second phase of the Outpatients building, at Lewisham Hospital.
1968: The new Special Care Baby Unit, the new Antenatal Clinic and an Intensive Therapy Unit (the first in a District General Hospital in the country) are opened at Lewisham Hospital by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, Mr Julian Snow. The three units cost a total of £126,000
1970: A regional centre for the Blood Transfusion Service is established at Lewisham Hospital.; June - the Lewisham Hospital Voluntary Services is set up.
1971: The new Nurses' Education Centre opens at Lewisham Hospital, at a cost of £150,000
1973: Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Health and Social services, visits the hospital in February and in October he opens 'Birdwood' the younger disabled Unit at Hither Green.
1979: St John's Hospital closes.
1982: The Lewisham Macmillian Team treats its first cancer patient.
1987: The £10 million Phase 1 redevelopment of Lewisham Hospital is completed and features four theatres, one surgical ward, a kitchen, dining room, new rehabilitation facilities, a boiler house, and refurnished facilities for Accident and Emergency and Outpatients.
1991: Sydenham Children's Hospital closes its doors and moves to Lewisham Hospital, where it is known as the Children's Hospital.
1992: Scanner Appeal, set up in 1989 donates CT scanner in October 1992 and continues as Lewi Appeal to raise money for further equipment and amenities at the hospital.
1993: The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust established and Dunoran Home becomes part of the trust.; The £35 million Phase 2 redevelopment of Lewisham Hospital, which includes a new Women's and Children's Wing, begins.
1994: Grove Park Hospital closes; Sapphire Ward-a 20 bedded surgical ward is opened.; Day Surgical Unit opens on 13 May
1995: The Accident and Emergency Department at Lewisham Hospital is upgraded and extended in June following a £1 million investment.
1996: Princess Alexandra opens the new Women's and Children's Wing at the hospital on 12 November.
1997: Hither Green Hospital closes.; Care of the Elderly service transfer from Hither Green Hospital into Lewisham Hospital.; The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust is awarded formal status as a full University Hospital by the University of London and changes the name of Lewisham Hospital to University Hospital Lewisham.
1998: The Ladywell unit, providing mental health at the hospital site, is officially opened by Frank Dobson, Secretary of State for Health.
2002: Start of the £58 million phase 3 scheme of the hospital's redevelopment programme to replace old style Nightingale wards with modern facilities.
2007: The Riverside wing is officially opened by Arch Desmond Tutu. The new building has photovoltaic panels on the roof to contribute towards the energy needed to run it.