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Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Queen Mary Convalescent Auxiliary Hospital for sailors, soldiers and airmen who lost limbs in war service was founded in May 1915 from an idea by Mrs Gwynne Holford. Mr Kenneth Wilson had placed the stately home Roehampton House at the hospital's disposal, free of rent, but in 1920 the governors were able to purchase the house outright. Limb-makers factories and workshops soon grew up around the hospital, on the Roehampton Estate.
The Queen's Auxiliary Hospital, Sidcup was set up in 1917 by Mr Charles Kenderdine, one of the original founders of Queen Mary's Hospital, for the treatment of ex-servicemen with severe facial and jaw injuries. Close links between this hospital and Queen Mary's continued until 1930, when The Queen's Hospital was sold to the London County Council. Its patients were transferred to Queen Mary's Hospital.
The Ministry of Pensions began contributing to the hospital's costs in 1920, and in 1925 an agreement was entered into, whereby the ministry would bear the cost of major re-building works in return for the use of the hospital beds for any of its patients, except those suffering from tuberculosis or mental illness. The hospital's limbless patients still had priority treatment under this agreement, and the governors retained responsibility for the upkeep of all buildings and grounds on the estate. Also in 1925 the name of the hospital was changed to the Queen Mary (Roehampton) Hospital.
In 1939 a new artificial limb factory was opened at the hospital and plans were approved for an additional 550 beds. In the year 1938-1939, the number of war pensioners attending for artificial limbs totalled 10,987 combined with 355 civilians and 16,251 limbs were sent by post.
On the outbreak of World War II the Ministry of Pensions assumed overall responsibility of the hospital area of the estate. At this time the governors were running schemes which enabled civilians to be provided with artificial limbs, and agreements were made with the Railway Companies' Association and mine-workers' associations.
With the addition of 550 beds, the total now reached approximately 900. The Limb Fitting Centre and factory were expanded also, prompted by the memories of 40,000 men losing limbs during the First World War. The plan was for Queen Mary's to deal with amputees, fractures and facial injury cases. However, there were approximately half the number of amputees during the Second World War. Leon Gillis (QMH Consultant Surgeon, 1943-1967) summarised the reasons for this as follows:`Advances in surgical techniques, in chemotherapy and in the general management of any injury, better treatment of infection and the availability of blood transfusion' all helped to lower the levels of amputation. Techniques developed in the First World War, also played a significant role.
In addition to the expansion of the existing departments of Plastic Surgery, Neuro-surgery and General Medicine, a Department of Tropical Diseases was established at Roehampton. This was in response to the needs of men who had been stationed in countries where tropical diseases were endemic. Roehampton was to suffer considerably from bomb damage during the War, with Roehampton House being damaged in the autumn of 1940 and February 1944. In 1953 control of the limb-fitting centre was also passed to the Ministry of Pensions.
In 1960 Queen Mary's Hospital was acquired by the Westminster Hospital group, and in 1961 it became a National Health Service Hospital. The Hospital's academic connection with the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School was emphasised by changing the name to Queen Mary's University Hospital. In 1982 the Roehampton Estate was sold to the NHS.
From 1974 to 1982 Queen Mary's Hospital came under the South West Thames Regional Health Authority and the Westminster Hospital Group (Teaching) Regional Health District. In 1982 the District Health Authority became Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton. On the 1st April 1993, Queen Mary's became part of the Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton NHS Trust. However, this was not to be the last change as, in 1998, Queen Mary's became the headquarters for the South West London Community NHS Trust. The same year saw the start of the reduction of acute provision on the Queen Mary's site.