Guy's Hospital

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Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. It is the large teaching hospital of GKT School of Medical Education.

The hospital's Tower Wing (originally known as Guy's Tower) was, when built in 1974, the tallest hospital building in the world, standing at Template:Convert with 34 floors. The tower was overtaken as the world's tallest healthcare-related building by The Belaire in New York City in 1988. As of June 2019, the Tower Wing, which remains one of the tallest buildings in London, is the world's sixth-tallest hospital building.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

The hospital dates from 1721, when it was founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy, who had made a fortune as a printer of Bibles and greatly increased it by speculating in the South Sea Bubble.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It was originally established as a hospital to treat "incurables" discharged from St Thomas' Hospital. Guy had been a governor and benefactor of St Thomas' and his fellow governors supported his intention by granting the south-side of St Thomas Street for a peppercorn rent for 999 years.<ref name=bho>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following his death in 1724, Thomas Guy was entombed at the hospital's chapel (also dating from the 18th century), in a tomb featuring a marble sculpture by John Bacon.<ref name=bho/>

The original buildings formed a courtyard facing St Thomas Street, comprising the hall on the east side and the chapel, Matron's House and Surgeon's House on the west side. The original main buildings were built by the King's Master Mason, John Deval, in 1739.<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.128</ref>

A bequest of £180,000 by William Hunt in 1829, one of the largest charitable bequests in England in historic terms, allowed for a further hundred beds to be accommodated.<ref name=bho/> Hunt's name was given to the southern expansion of the hospital buildings which took place in 1850.<ref name=bho/> Two inner quadrangles were divided by a cloister which was later restyled and dedicated to the hospital's members who fell in the First World War. The east side comprised the care wards and the "counting house" with the governors' Burfoot Court Room. The north-side quadrangle is dominated by a statue of Lord Nuffield (1877–1963) who was the chairman of governors for many years and also a major benefactor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1879-1880 the 'Guy's Hospital dispute' between matron Margaret Burt and hospital medical staff highlighted how doctors sometimes felt that their authority was being challenged by new-style matrons.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons’? A study of Eva Lückes’s influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)</ref> Florence Nightingale advocated that these new trained matrons had full control and discipline over their nursing staff. Margaret Burt ultimately resigned, but this was not an isolated episode and other matrons experienced similar issues, such as Eva Luckes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1974, the hospital added the 34-storey Guy's Tower and 29-storey Guy's House: this complex was designed by Watkins Gray.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, which is dedicated to improving outcomes of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury, was opened by the Princess Royal in December 2004.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In October 2005 children's departments moved to the Evelina London Children's Hospital in the grounds next to St Thomas's close to the Palace of Westminster.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A new cancer centre, designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and built by Laing O'Rourke at a cost of £160 million, was completed in April 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Passage inside Guy's Hospital.jpg

Interior passageway inside Guy's Hospital
Mr Guys Hospital for Incurables.jpg

Early 18th century engraving
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1820 Engraving of entrance by James Elmes and William Woolnoth
Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals from 1833 Schmollinger map.jpg

The location of Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals, c. 1833
Guy's Hospital- Life in a London Hospital, England, 1941 D2330.jpg

Surgery is performed at Guy's in 1941
Northern Side of the War Memorial, Guy's Hospital.jpg

War memorial at Guy's Hospital

FacilitiesEdit

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Medical services at the Guy's site are now concentrated in the buildings to the east of Great Maze Pond: these buildings, which are connected, are known as Tower Wing, Bermondsey Wing, Southwark Wing and Borough Wing.<ref name=map>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Cancer Centre is in a separate building just to the south.<ref name=map/> To the west of the Great Maze Pond is Guy's Campus which forms part of King's College London.<ref name=map/>

At Template:Convert high,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Guy's Tower (now called the Tower Wing) regained its tallest hospital building in the world status in 2014, due to the installation of a light sculpture on the roof.<ref name="World'sTallestHospitalBuilding">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It has since been surpassed by the Outpatient Center at the Houston Methodist Hospital, in Houston, USA at Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>