St Helier Hospital

St Helier Hospital
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
Geography
Location St Helier, Merton and Sutton, London, England, United Kingdom
Organisation
Care system Public NHS
Hospital type District General Hospital
Affiliated university St. George's, University of London
Services
Emergency department Yes Accident & Emergency
History
Founded 1938
Links
Website http://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk
Lists Hospitals in England

St Helier Hospital (full title: St Helier Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children) in the London Borough of Merton and London Borough of Sutton is run by Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust along with Epsom Hospital.

The hospital offers a full range of hospital services including a 24-hour accident and emergency department. The site is also home to the South West Renal and Transplantation Service and the Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, a dedicated children's hospital. St Helier Hospital is a major teaching hospital for St George's, University of London, and is the second main teaching site for the clinical years of the medicine degrees outside of St George's Hospital.

As part of the Better Services Better Value Review of NHS services in London it is proposed to downgrade the maternity and Accident and Emergency Departments. However, it appeared in December 2013 that at least some local GPs were not in favour of this.[1]

The hospital is among the safest in the country according to Care Quality Commission indicators measured in 2014.[2]

The hospital was painted green during the Second World War to protect it from the German bombers; many bombs landed on the surrounding areas including an unexploding one on top of the gasometers 1/2 mile away.

The conservative MP John Major, who was Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997 was born at St Helier Hospital in 1943.[3]

Description of the site

A ward at St Helier Hospital in 1943

The site is located on the B278 (Wrythe Lane) opposite St Helier Open Space. It is approximately 2 miles from Sutton, 5 miles from Croydon and 10 miles from Central London. It is close to the Rose Hill Roundabout which is the junction for the A217 and A297.

The main entrance leads into B block (see below). Just to the right of the main entrance is the entrance to the accident and emergency department. St Helier Hospital comprises 6 buildings, all of which are accessible from the outside of the hospital (as each has its own entrance) as well as via link corridors via the main building.

The main building is divided into three blocks: A, B and C. The names of the wards and operating theatres are based on their location in the hospital - a ward located on, say, the fifth floor of B block is labelled B5 ward.

The other buildings are:

The Women's Health Block, Renal Unit and Queen Mary's are connected to the main building via an underground tunnel from the Ground Floor of B block. D block is connected via the first floor of C block and Ferguson House via the first floor of A block (although the link is on the Ground Floor of Ferguson House - there is a ramp down from the main hospital to Ferguson House).

Transport links

The hospital is accessible by bus, however although many buses stop at Rose Hill Roundabout (which is about 5 minutes walk from the hospital) only a few buses actually stop outside the hospital. The nearest Underground station is Morden, from which there are frequent buses to Rose Hill and the hospital. The nearest National Rail station is St Helier which is 1,600 yards from the hospital (about a 15-minute walk), although this is infrequently served (only 1 train every 30 minutes off peak). There is a more frequent National Rail service to either Carshalton (connect to the hospital by bus) or Sutton (which has very frequent buses to Rose Hill and outside the hospital). Some of the buses that stop outside the hospital are the 151, 157 and the S1.

See also

References

  1. "GPs vote against closure of local A&E". Pulse. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  2. Sutton Guardian
  3. There is a plaque at the main entrance of the hospital stating this.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Helier Hospital.

Coordinates: 51°22′49″N 0°11′01″W / 51.3803°N 0.1836°W