Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital

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Phone
  
+44 845 155 5000

London borough
  
London Borough of Camden

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital

Address
  
University College Hospital, 25 Grafton Way, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6BD, UK

Similar
  
Eastman Dental Hospital, Royal National Throat - N, Hospital for Tropical Diseases, National Hospital for Neurolog, Bloomsbury Theatre

The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital was a hospital in Bloomsbury, London in the United Kingdom. It was operated by the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The work of the hospital continues in the modern Elizabeth Garrett Anderson wing of University College Hospital.

Contents

History

The hospital was formed in 2001 from an amalgamation of the Obstetric Hospital and the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

The New Hospital for Women developed from St Mary's Dispensary in the 1870s. It was founded to enable poor women to obtain medical help from qualified female practitioners - in that era a very unusual thing.

In 1866, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was appointed General Medical Attendant to St Mary's Dispensary, where she worked for over 20 years, through the change to the new name. The foundation stone of the new building was laid by the Princess of Wales in 1889, and was renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in 1918.

The 1890 core of the former Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital building has been listed and, restored, now forms part of the UNISON Centre. Within this building the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Gallery is open to the public. The gallery is a permanent installation and uses a variety of media to set the story of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, her hospital, and women’s struggle to achieve equality in the field of medicine within the wider framework of 19th and 20th century social history. Interactive displays allow the visitor to discover more about the ‘Enterprising Women’ who followed Elizabeth Garrett into the medical profession – and into other spheres of British public life.

The gallery is very close to the Wellcome Collection, the British Library – and Euston and King’s Cross stations. Numerous bus routes pass the door.

Admission is free and the gallery is open Wednesday to Friday 9.00am to 6.00pm and on the third Saturday of every month 9.00am to 6.00pm.

In 1946 the hospital purchased the Hampstead Nursing Home at 40 Belsize Grove (close to Belsize Park tube station on the Northern line). Between 1948 and 1977 it was known as the Garrett Anderson Maternity Home. The building was subsequently demolished and replaced by residential accommodation.

Occupation

The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson hospital was under threat of closure from the 1960s and closure was announced in 1976 by Camden Area Health Authority. In November that year the building was occupied by the staff. Campaigning continued until 1979.

Closure

In November 2008, the hospital's maternity and neonatal services moved to the new University College Hospital Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing, a £70 million purpose-built wing offering the latest technology and facilities, and the old building was demolished to make room for the UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre, which has now opened.

References

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital Wikipedia