Guy's Hospital

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Guy's Hospital
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Geography
Location Southwark, London, England, United Kingdom
Organisation
Care system Public NHS
Hospital type Teaching
Affiliated university King's College London / KCLMS
Services
Emergency department No. A&E at St Thomas' Hospital[1]
Beds 400[2]
History
Founded 1721
Links
Website www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk
Lists Hospitals in England

Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is, with St Thomas' Hospital and King's College Hospital, the location of King's College London School of Medicine (formerly known as the GKT School of Medicine). The Tower Wing (formerly known as Guy's Tower) was the tallest hospital building in the world, standing at 142.6m,[3] with 34 floors until 2008.

History

The location of Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals c.1833

The hospital was founded in 1721 by Thomas Guy (1644/45–27 December 1724), a publisher of unlicensed Bibles who had made a fortune in the South Sea Bubble. 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 for 999 years. Guy is interred in the crypt of the Chapel of his foundation.

Guy's has expanded over the centuries. 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. Two inner quadrangles were divided by a cloister which was later restyled and dedicated to the hospital's members who fell in World War I. 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 who was the chairman of governors for many years and also a major benefactor. These original parts of the hospital are now administrative and social accommodation.

Despite substantial bomb damage during World War II, the original 18th century chapel remains intact including the tomb of Thomas Guy with a marble sculpture by John Bacon.

A bequest of £200,000 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. Hunt's name was given to the southern expansion of the hospital buildings. These were replaced c.2000 by new academic buildings for King's College, known as New Hunt's House.

In 1974, the hospital added the 34 storey Guy's Tower. At 143 metres (469 ft) high, this is the third tallest hospital building in the world, and the 14th tallest building in London. It was designed by Watkins Gray.[4] Guy's Tower is divided into two sections of which the top floors (floors 18-30) represent the dental school, where students of King's College London Dental School study and practice, and the lower floors (Ground-18) represent the medical departments.

Over 13,200 staff work in Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital. They are two of the oldest teaching hospitals, and they are situated right in the heart of the capital. One of the services that the trust provides is dental care, looking after over 120,000 patients a year.

The site

1820 Engraving of entrance by James Elmes and William Woolnoth

The site consists of 19 distinct, but interconnected, buildings with functions including public medical services, teaching, research and student residence. Collectively the buildings are known by local students as 'the squirrel' due to the buildings strange silhouette.

The buildings which compose the campus are:[5]

Surgery is performed at Guy's in 1941

Major hospital buildings containing wards

Since the merger with St Thomas' Hospital, medical services at the Guy's site have been concentrated in the buildings to the east of Great Maze Pond:

  • Tower Wing (formerly known as Guy's Tower)
  • Borough Wing (formerly known as New Guy's House)
  • Southwark Wing (the western part of the block formerly known as Thomas Guy House)
  • Bermondsey Wing (the eastern part of the block formerly known as Thomas Guy House)

Research for the Trust's FACE wayfinding project identified that the similarity of the previous names led to widespread confusion for patients and visitors. From January 2008, as part of a wider project to ease wayfinding (which included changing the postal address of the hospital from St Thomas Street to Great Maze Pond) the names used for the three main buildings were changed with Thomas Guy House being divided into two distinct wings reflecting its separate circulation cores.

Tower Wing

Tower Wing (Guy's Tower)

Tower Wing
General information
Location Southwark, London, England
Coordinates 51°30′16″N 0°5′12″W / 51.50444°N 0.08667°W / 51.50444; -0.08667
Height
Roof 142.6 m (468 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 37 (34 above ground)

The Tower Wing (formerly Guy's Tower) was completed in 1974 and stands more than 142 metres high,[6] The tower was the tallest hospital building in the world and it was the tallest building built in London during the 1970s. It has since been replaced as the tallest hospital building in the world by the Phase 3 Building of the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley, Hong Kong in 2008.[7] Guy's Tower is located next to The Shard, the United Kingdom's tallest building. It is a prominent example of Brutalist architecture, which was common at the time it was built. The top of the tower is a lecture room. The tower was renovated and the exterior re-clad and painted in 2013.

Other buildings

The historic hospital buildings are now used by administration of the hospital and King's College. From St Thomas Street, the outer quadrangle comprises:

  • Boland House - east side
  • Conybeare House (containing The Chapel) - west side
  • Old Guy's House - south side

The centre of Old Guy's House leads into a colonnade separating the two inner courtyards. The western courtyard has a statue of the hospital benefactor Lord Nuffield and the eastern courtyard contains an arch from the old London Bridge in which a seated statue of John Keats was recently installed.

The academic buildings of King's College are centred around the lawned area known as "The Park" or "The Quad". The premises stretch as far as Borough High Street and some buildings have names reflecting historic inns formerly on parts of the site:

  • Doyles House
  • Henriette Raphael House
  • Hodgkin Building
  • New Hunt's House
  • Nuffield House
  • Nuffield Nurses' Home
  • Pavy Gym
  • Shepherd's House
  • Tabard House
  • Three Tuns House
  • Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases

Lastly, there are a cluster of buildings to the south of New Guy's House, accessible from Snowfields and Weston Street:

  • Capital House
  • Munro Clinic
  • Newcomen Centre
  • Wolfson House (containing the Greenwood Theatre)

Guy's Dental Hospital

Guy's Hospital near London Bridge (5 minutes walk from the overground/underground stations) is home to the largest dental hospital in Europe. Its services include routine dentistry, dental surgery, oral medicine and specialist dentistry. In addition Guy's also provides emergency dental services, and oral and facial surgery with the majority of work being performed by students.

Dental work involves dental surgeons, as well as dental nurses, dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental technicians and medical photographers; all of which are equally important to the efficiency of the hospital's dental care services.

Developments and changes

A new, state of the art Cancer Centre is being built at Guy’s Hospital. Most patients will come to the centre to have their cancer diagnosed and treated. The centre will provide specialist cancer services, training, development and research. The aim will be to improve both cancer treatments and outcomes.

On 31 October 2005 children's departments at Guy's moved to the newly constructed Evelina London Children's Hospital.

The Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases was built following a generous donation from the Wolfson Foundation. This centre brings under one roof a number of research groups dedicated to improving outcomes of conditions including Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury.

In order to minimise the costs of energy and reduce carbon emissions, Guy's Hospital utilises a combined heat and power plant that operates on natural gas.[8]

Famous physicians who worked at Guy's

See also

  • Guy's Hospital Football Club founded in (1843) has a claim to being the oldest (rugby) football club still in existence.
  • King's College London
  • Tall buildings in London

References

  1. ↑ http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/our-services/emergency-care/accident-and-emergency.aspx | Accident and emergency (A&E)
  2. ↑ "Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: Vital Statistics". Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
  3. ↑ "Guys Hospital, London - Building #100". Skyscrapernews.com. Retrieved 2013-04-22. 
  4. ↑ Obituary: A. Stuart Gray
  5. ↑ "Guy's: detail map :Campus maps :King's College London". King's College London. 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2006-12-09. 
  6. ↑ "Guys Hospital, London - Building #100". Skyscrapernews.com. Retrieved 2013-04-22. 
  7. ↑ Minutes of 979th Meeting of the Town Planning Board held on 8.4.2011, Town Planning Board of Hong Kong Government. 8 April 2011.
  8. ↑ Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital CHP Plants. Clarke Energy. Retrieved 14 March 2013.

External links

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Coordinates: 51°30′12″N 0°05′13″W / 51.50346°N 0.08687°W / 51.50346; -0.08687

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