St Alfege's Hospital was a hospital that operated in the

Maze Hill Maze Hill is an area in Greenwich and Blackheath, in south-east London, lying to the east of Greenwich Park, and west of the Westcombe Park area of Blackheath. It is part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and takes its name from the main thorou ...

area of east

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

in southeast London. It operated as the Greenwich Union Infirmary from 1874 to 1929. It was briefly known as the Greenwich and Deptford Hospital before becoming St Alfege's Hospital in 1931. It was then superseded by

Greenwich District Hospital Greenwich District Hospital was an acute district general hospital situated in the Maze Hill district of Greenwich, London. It was built in the 1960s on the site of St Alfege's Hospital, Greenwich, on the east side of Vanbrugh Hill, south of i ...

in 1968.Details: Greenwich District Hospital, London
The National Archives. Retrieved: 25 October 2015.

History

19th century

The hospital developed from an infirmary created for the Greenwich and Deptford

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

, which opened in 1840 on a site on the east side of Vanbrugh Hill, south of its junction with Woolwich Road; the architect,

Robert Palmer Browne Robert Palmer Browne (30 January 1803 – 18 December 1872) was a British architect who was closely associated with the General Steam Navigation Company in the mid-nineteenth century but who also designed residential, church and public buildings, ...

(1803-1872), later described his design as "plain but cheerful and almslike". The Greenwich Union Infirmary opened in 1874, consisting of two 3-storey pavilions (housing 400 patients) and a 4-storey administration and staff accommodation block, built on a 3-acre site south of the workhouse at a cost of £35,000. In 1885 the Board of Guardians raised £14,800 from the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London County ...

; two further infirmary blocks were built to house about 300 chronically sick inmates. Two further blocks, housing 250 patients were added in 1889. In 1898 the infirmary was certified as a nurse training school, and was soon also functioning as a general hospital with a staff of 150, including a medical officer and 60 nurses of varying grades.

20th century

During the early 20th century, central heating and electrical lighting were installed,

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

and massage departments were established, and in 1928 an operating theatre was installed. The following year, administration of the workhouse and infirmary was passed to

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

and it was renamed the Greenwich and Deptford Hospital; at this date, the workhouse contained 846 beds for the chronic sick and the infirmary had 645 beds for acute patients. In 1930 a ward for

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

patients, an out-patients department, pharmacy, antenatal clinic and nurses' sick bay facility were added. In 1931 the Hospital was renamed St Alfege's Hospital, after Alfege, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in Greenwich in 1012. In 1934, while working at St Alfege's,

Mary Broadfoot Walker Mary Broadfoot Walker (17 April 1888 – 13 September 1974) was a Scottish physician who first demonstrated the effectiveness of physostigmine in the treatment of the condition myasthenia gravis, a disease relating to muscle weakness. She was als ...

first demonstrated the effectiveness of

physostigmine Physostigmine (also known as eserine from ''éséré'', the West African name for the Calabar bean) is a highly toxic parasympathomimetic alkaloid, specifically, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor. It occurs naturally in the Calabar bean and ...

in the treatment of the condition

myasthenia gravis Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a long-term neuromuscular junction disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness. The most commonly affected muscles are those of the eyes, face, and swallowing. It can result in double vision, dro ...

. In 1948 the Hospital joined the

NHS 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 " ...

under the control of the South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1960 the Board ended the distinction between the workhouse and infirmary elements of the two St Alfege's Hospitals and merged them into one unit of 605 beds. During the 1960s, demolition of the old workhouse and infirmary and building of a complete new hospital began. Phase 1 was completed in 1969, Phase 2 by the end of 1970 and Phase 3 by 1972. The new three-storey, 800-bed

opened in 1972. The district hospital also replaced the

Miller General Hospital The Miller General Hospital was a hospital in Greenwich, London from 1884 until 1974. It was developed adjacent to an earlier dispensary, and was the first British hospital designed with circular wards, and one of the first to have an X-ray depa ...

in west Greenwich, which finally closed in 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Alfege's Hospital NHS hospitals in London Former buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Defunct hospitals in London Demolished buildings and structures in London 1968 disestablishments in England Poor law infirmaries