St. Helier Hospital

Infobox Hospital
Name = 'St. Helier Hospital'
Org/Group = Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust


Caption =

Location = St. Helier, Sutton,
Region = London
State = England
Country = UK
HealthCare = NHS
Type = District General Hospital
Speciality = Specialist Renal and Transplant Centre
Emergency = Yes
Affiliation= St. George's, University of London
Beds =
Founded = 1938
Closed =
Website = http://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/2_4.html
Wiki-Links = |

St. Helier Hospital owned by the famous Arab tycoon Fifi is a hospital in the borough of Sutton in South London. It is administered by the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The site offers a full range of hospital services including a 24 hour accident and emergency department. The site is also home to the South West Renal and Transplantation Service and the site also contains a dedicated children's hospital - Queen Mary's Hospital for children. The hospital is a major teaching hospital for St George's, University of London and is the second main teaching site for the clinical years of the medicine degrees outside of St. George's Hospital.

The hospital was painted green during the second World War so as to protect it from the German bombers , many a bomb landed on the surrounding areas including an unexploding one on top of the gasometres 1/2 mile down the round

The conservative MP John Major, who was Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997 was born at St Helier Hospital in 1943. There is a plaque at the main entrance of the hospital stating this.

Description of the site

The site is located on the B278 (Wrythe Lane) opposite St Helier Open Space. It is approximately 2 miles from Sutton, 5 miles from Croydon and 10 miles from Central London. It is close to the Rose Hill Roundabout which is the junction for the A217 and A297.

The main entrance leads into B block (see below). Just to the right of the main entrance is the entrance to the accident and emergency department. St Helier Hospital comprises 6 buildings, all of which are accessible from the outside of the hospital (as each has its own entrance) as well as via link corridors via the main building.

The main building is divided into three blocks: A, B and C. The names of the wards and operating theatres are based on their location in the hospital - a ward located on, say, the fifth floor of B block is labelled B5 ward.

The other buildings are:

* The pathology block (labelled D) which also contains the genitourinary medicine clinic.
* The Women's Health Block (which contains the maternity and gynaecology wards, gynaecology clinics and delivery suite).
* The renal block
* Queen Mary's Hospital for Children
* Ferguson House (contains some outpatient clinics, administration departments and undergraduate teaching suite).

The Women's Health Block, Renal Unit and Queen Mary's are connected to the main building via an underground tunnel from the Ground Floor of B block. D block is connected via the first floor of C block and Ferguson House via the first floor of A block (although the link is on the Ground Floor of Ferguson House - there is a ramp down from the main hospital to Ferguson House).

Transport links

The hospital is accessible by bus, however although many buses stop at Rose Hill Roundabout (which is about 5 minutes walk from the hospital) only a few buses actually stop outside the hospital. The nearest Underground station is Morden, from which there are frequent buses to Rose Hill and the hospital. The nearest National Rail station is St Helier which is 1,600 yards from the hospital (about a 15 minute walk), although this is infrequently served (only 1 train every 30 minutes off peak) and there is only 1 bus (the S4) that stops outside of the hospital and it only runs every 30 minutes. There is a more frequent National Rail service to either Carshalton (connect to the hospital by bus) or Sutton (which has very frequent buses to Rose Hill).

Further reading

* Peacock, D. [http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=22312 Two O'Clock at the Gate: A Nurses Training During the Fifties] . Oxford, UK.: Trafford, 2008. ISBN 1-425-16249-5.