Collection O/234 - GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN

Identity area

Reference code

O/234

Title

GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN

Date(s)

  • 1891 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

0.16 linear metres

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) was founded in February 1852. It was the first specialist children's hospital, and it has grown to an internationally famous centre of excellence in child healthcare. Much has changed in medicine over that time but GOSH is committed to delivering the best and most up to date treatment now and in the future.

The hospital treats 100,000 patients a year; both at its central London site and through clinics scattered across the country. It offers the largest range of children's medical specialists under one roof, so children with some of the rarest and most complex problems can be treated. In addition to its medical care, GOSH researches childhood illness, and plays a major role in training children's doctors and nurses.

At the time GOSH was founded, children's life expectancy was pitifully low. There was widespread poverty, malnutrition and disease. Medicine was also extremely primitive, with no antibiotics, no antiseptics and no real understanding of infection. But modern medicine was beginning to emerge, with mass vaccination and the start of the public health movement, and anaesthetics began to make surgery more practical.

Founder Dr Charles West had a vision, that children were not just little copies of adults, they needed their own sort of doctors and nurses. His book "How to nurse sick children" predates Florence Nightingale's nursing manual. The hospital's motto is "The Child first and always" and GOSH has always strived to put the patient at the centre of its care. Children's hospitals are now very different from Victorian days - bright, open and cheerful, with unlimited visiting by families.

Since 1948, GOSH has been part of the NHS and proud to offer children its specialist care for free. It is part of a network of specialist children's services across the country. The pace of medical development has speeded up, even fifty years ago antibiotics and heart surgery were radical new treatments - now we correct congenital heart abnormalities within days of birth, and plan gene therapy to correct inborn diseases.

Archival history

O/234 1891 Collection 0.16 linear metres Hospital for Sick Children , Great Ormond Street x Great Ormond Street Hospital

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) was founded in February 1852. It was the first specialist children's hospital, and it has grown to an internationally famous centre of excellence in child healthcare. Much has changed in medicine over that time but GOSH is committed to delivering the best and most up to date treatment now and in the future.

The hospital treats 100,000 patients a year; both at its central London site and through clinics scattered across the country. It offers the largest range of children's medical specialists under one roof, so children with some of the rarest and most complex problems can be treated. In addition to its medical care, GOSH researches childhood illness, and plays a major role in training children's doctors and nurses.

At the time GOSH was founded, children's life expectancy was pitifully low. There was widespread poverty, malnutrition and disease. Medicine was also extremely primitive, with no antibiotics, no antiseptics and no real understanding of infection. But modern medicine was beginning to emerge, with mass vaccination and the start of the public health movement, and anaesthetics began to make surgery more practical.

Founder Dr Charles West had a vision, that children were not just little copies of adults, they needed their own sort of doctors and nurses. His book "How to nurse sick children" predates Florence Nightingale's nursing manual. The hospital's motto is "The Child first and always" and GOSH has always strived to put the patient at the centre of its care. Children's hospitals are now very different from Victorian days - bright, open and cheerful, with unlimited visiting by families.

Since 1948, GOSH has been part of the NHS and proud to offer children its specialist care for free. It is part of a network of specialist children's services across the country. The pace of medical development has speeded up, even fifty years ago antibiotics and heart surgery were radical new treatments - now we correct congenital heart abnormalities within days of birth, and plan gene therapy to correct inborn diseases.

Received in 1967. AC/67/036.

Booklet by the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, giving map of location of hospital, list of staff, the objects of the institution, attendance of medical officers, rules for students and clinical clerks and fees for hospital practice, 1891.

One booklet.

Available for general access.

Copyright: City of London
English

Fit

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. January 2009 Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust x The Hospital for Sick Children x Great Ormond Street Hospital x The Hospital for Children Information sciences Hospitals Communications media Publications Booklets Medical institutions Health services Child health services Camden London England UK Western Europe Bloomsbury Barnet Hertfordshire Europe

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Received in 1967. AC/67/036.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Booklet by the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, giving map of location of hospital, list of staff, the objects of the institution, attendance of medical officers, rules for students and clinical clerks and fees for hospital practice, 1891.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

One booklet.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copyright: City of London

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Publication note

Notes area

Note

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

London Metropolitan Archives

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area