Harefield Hospital is a health institution in

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...

, England. It is managed by the

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust of the English National Health Service, one of the prestigious Shelford Group. It runs Guy's Hospital in London Bridge, St Thomas' Hospital in Waterloo, Evelina London Childr ...

History

The first hospital on the site was the No. 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital established during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to treat injured Australians and New Zealander soldiers. After the war

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...

decided to use the site to build a series of single-storey pavilions which opened as the Harefield Sanatorium in October 1921. Work started on a more permanent structure in 1935 and the new building was opened on 8 October 1937 by the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...

, with many of the wards featuring large open areas to give patients access to the fresh air. The hospital joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948. Amongst the hospital's roll call of distinguished cardiologists were Paul Wood and

Walter Somerville Walter Somerville CBE (1913–2005) was an Irish cardiologist who played a leading role in heart surgery at London's Middlesex and Harefield hospitals. For twenty years, Somerville was editor of the British Heart Journal. Early life and educ ...

. Arguably, the hospital's most famous surgeon was Professor Sir

Magdi Yacoub Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub ( ar, د/مجدى حبيب يعقوب ; born 16 November 1935), is an Egyptian retired professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Imperial College London, best known for his early work in repairing heart valves with surgeon ...

, who performed the UK's first heart and lung transplant at Harefield in 1983. Under the leadership of Sir Magdi Yacoub, the Harefield Hospital transplant programme had begun in 1980 and by the end of the decade he and his team had performed one thousand of the procedures, while the hospital had become the leading UK transplant centre. In a January 2008 press release, the trust announced that Harefield Hospital had become the leader in the south east of England for treating acute heart attack patients with primary angioplasty and

coronary stent A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease. It is used in a procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PC ...

insertion to reduce the length of hospital stays. In the 2010 staff survey conducted by the Care Quality Commission, one staff member in five (of those who responded to the survey) reported having been the subject of discrimination and one in fifty having been assaulted at work by a fellow staff member. However, "only a minority of staff said they felt work pressures, with four-fifths of employees adding they would recommend the trust as a place to work or receive treatment."

Facilities

The hospital advertises as being "one of the largest and most experienced centres in the world for

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

and

lung transplant Lung transplantation, or pulmonary transplantation, is a surgical procedure in which one or both lungs are replaced by lungs from a donor. Donor lungs can be retrieved from a living or deceased donor. A living donor can only donate one lung lobe. ...

s" and having "jointly pioneered work in the development of '

artificial heart An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, experi ...

s' (also known as left ventricular assist devices or LVADs)". The grounds of the hospital also house the Harefield Heart Science Centre, where research is performed into the causes and treatments of heart disease.

References

External links

Harefield HospitalRoyal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation TrustHarefield Heart Science Centre
{{coord, 51.607, -0.483, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Hospital buildings completed in 1937 NHS hospitals in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hillingdon Specialist hospitals in England

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links