Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London

Queen Elizabeth Hospital is a hospital in Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was opened in March 2001 and serves patients from the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. The hospital was built to accommodate the services previously provided at Greenwich District Hospital and Brook General Hospital, and is a Private Finance Initiative hospital. It is managed by the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
Sign at main entrance Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Location within the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Geography
LocationStadium Road, Woolwich, London, England
Coordinates51.4789°N 0.0511°E / 51.4789; 0.0511
Organisation
Care systemNational Health Service
TypeGeneral
Services
Emergency departmentYes
Beds521
History
OpenedMarch 2001 (2001-03)
Links
Websitewww.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk

History

The hospital's name originates from the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, which occupied the site from 1977 until its closure in 1995, and was named after Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (who opened the hospital on 1 November 1978). The military hospital was built on the site of the former Shrapnel Barracks and was a replacement for the Royal Herbert Hospital in Shooters Hill[1] and Queen Alexandra Military Hospital.[2]

A new hospital was procured under a Private Finance Initiative contract to replace the military hospital and to accommodate services previously provided at Greenwich District Hospital and Brook General Hospital in 1998. The new hospital was built by Skanska[3] at a cost of £84 million[4] and opened in March 2001,[5] being officially opened by the Queen on 11 December that year.[6]

In July 2012, Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, announced that the South London Healthcare Trust, formed in 2009 was to go into special measures and become the first Trust to have an independent Administrator appointed. The Trust was subsequently disbanded by Jeremy Hunt, Lansley's successor as Secretary of State for Health.[7]

On 1 October 2013 it was transferred to Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust on the disestablishment of South London Healthcare NHS Trust.[8]

Following power cuts, water shortages and floods the trust applied to the Independent Trust Finance Facility, part of the Department of Health, for £48 million to repair the hospital in June 2016. It stated that "The infrastructure issues arise from unresolved legacy problems with the 60 year PFI agreement between the Meridian Hospital Company and the now dissolved Greenwich Health Authority, and derive from failures in specification and design standards, cost cutting at construction and contract terms that give the present trust limited redress against defects arising from the initial design and installation." The application was approved in November 2017.[9]

In April 2018, following the January 2018 liquidation of Carillion, renewed concern about privatised provision of services at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust prompted a petition, supported by the trade union GMB and local MP Matthew Pennycook, to bring 'soft' facilities services back in-house.[10]

Criticisms

In February 2017, the South London Critical Care Network reviewed the hospital's intensive care department and found a complete lack of medical leadership. Care for patients across the trust could be affected because of issues with the critical care service. It was suggested that "younger fitter patients with single organ failure" would not be admitted to intensive care until they developed multiorgan failure because of pressures on bed availability. Only 3.5 full-time equivalent consultants were in post, with staff working locum shifts to fill gaps. "There was no ownership of the care of deteriorating patients in the wider hospital." Ear nose and throat surgeons in Lewisham would not go to Woolwich, so patients needing tracheostomy had to be sent to Lewisham for their operation.[11]

  • Main entrance
  • Hospital pavilions
  • Main building
  • Hospital official opening plaque
  • Plaque marking opening of Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital
  • Foundation stone from Greenwich Union Infirmary

See also

References
  1. "Royal Herbert Hospital". Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  2. "Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital (Millbank)". Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  3. "Hospital PFI deal". Construction News. 9 July 1998. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  4. "NHS capital expenditure and the private finance initiative—expansion or contraction?" (PDF). British Medical Journal. 3 July 1999. p. 49. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  5. "NHS could lose millions on PFI land clauses". The Telegraph. 20 May 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  6. "Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital". Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  7. "South London Healthcare NHS Trust to be dissolved by 1 October 2013". Department of Health and Social Care. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  8. "Greenwich and Lewisham health care trust merger plan approved". BBC News. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  9. "Trust faces £48m repair bill for PFI hospital". Health Service Journal. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. Dempsey, Joe (30 April 2018). "Petition against Lewisham and Greenwich hospitals private contracts". This Is Local London. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  11. Lintern, Shaun (13 July 2017). "'Complete lack of medical leadership' at intensive care unit". Health Service Journal. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
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