Get anyone to name some renowned hospitals in the England and inevitably the same couple of names will almost always get mentioned. Almost everyone will have heard of Great Ormond Street Hospital which specialises in child health and Moorfields which is the acknowledged leader in the treatment of eye complaints.
One thing both Great Ormond Street and Moorfields have in common is that they both came into being in the 1800’s in response to the lack of adequate resources to treat child health issues and eye complaints. They have since grown to become the most outstanding hospitals in their areas of expertise, helping to research new ways of dealing with children’s illnesses and health issues in the case of Great Ormond Street, and being at the forefront of new surgical procedures such as Laser eye treatments in the case of Moorfields.
Moorfields was opened in 1805 by John Cunningham Saunders and is the oldest medical facility for specialist eye treatment in the world. It was originally opened to provide to the countless soldiers who were returning from the Napoleonic Wars in Egypt with symptoms of having a serious type of tropical conjunctivitis which could cause blindness if left without medical attention.
Over fifty per cent of all the ophthalmologists (eye specialists) working in the UK have undertaken at least part of their training at Moorfields as well as many of those who complete numerous treatments and various Laser eye surgery operations elsewhere around the planet.
The hospital relocated to its current site in City Road, London in 1899 as it had outgrown previous premises, and became part of the NHS when it was founded in 1948. It was officially named Moorfields Eye Hospital at that time. It continues to provide some of the most effective eye care in the world for all types of complaints ranging from common problems which can be addressed with glasses or simple Laser eye treatment to those rare and tricky issues for which there is no treatment anywhere else in the UK. It has also advertised its availability to private patients and those from other countries who can afford to pay for treatment, and a growing amount of Laser eye surgery is carried out each year for paying clients.
Great Ormond Street Hospital was opened in 1852 by Dr Charles West. The population of London had grown dramatically over the previous few decades, largely because of the combined effects of the Industrial Revolution and the end of the Napoleonic Wars, but healthcare for the ever increasing number of people in need of medical intervention had not increased to accommodate this demand. Especially, hospital admissions for children were almost non-existent as the authorities felt that children were of little value, and even those with serious illnesses were considered to be best off remaining at home with their mother until they passed away, rather than trying to provide medical intervention.
Charles West disagreed with this lack of interest and with a large helping of determination and support from some respected healthcare reformers of the time he managed to attract sufficient support to open the very first children’s hospital, primarily to help the poorly offspring of the large share of the population who were struggling in poverty.
Great Ormond Street remained a voluntary hospital until it became part of the NHS in 1948, and until then all of the senior staff provided their expertise at the hospital for free as part of their social debt. They made their money from private clinic work, but at the same time gained much kudos from working at Great Ormond Street where their understanding increased hugely, no doubt to the good fortune of their private patients too. The hospital has carried on expanding and improving its premises over the centuries since then and is unrivalled in its expertise in child health and the treatment of childhood diseases.
It is a massive achievement of both of these hospitals that they continue to be at the cutting edge of treatment for specific groups – on the one hand, a big section of society, regardless of what health problems they have, and on the other hand, patients who have a problem with a vital part of the body which can cause many difficulties for the patient if it goes wrong.
