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St Helier Hospital (full title: ''St Helier Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children'') in the
London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is an Outer London London boroughs, borough in south London, England. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to the east, ...
is run by Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust along with Epsom Hospital. It is located next to the large St Helier council estate and close to the major intersection known as Rosehill. The hospital 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 Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, a dedicated children's hospital. St Helier Hospital is a major teaching hospital for
St George's, University of London St George's, University of London (SGUL), legally the St George's Hospital Medical School, was a public medical school from 1733 to 2024 in South London, England. It merged with City, University of London to form City St George's, University of ...
, and is a main teaching site for medical degrees.


History

The hospital was commissioned in 1934 when Surrey County Council acquired a 999-year lease of 10 acres of land on the St Helier council estate which had been named in honour of Mary Jeune, Baroness St Helier, a prominent
alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
on the
London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
. Queen Mary laid the foundation stone for the new hospital on 26 March 1938. It was designed by Saxon Snell & Phillips, who were chosen for their experience in hospital design, in the thirties modernist style. It received its first patients in February 1941 during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Less than a month later, the hospital was damaged in a bombing raid by a
parachute mine A parachute mine is a naval mine dropped from an aircraft by parachute. They were mostly used in the Second World War by the Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. ...
.
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
, the former Prime Minister was born in the hospital in 1943. Further damage was caused in later raids and the hospital was struck by two flying bombs in June 1944. St Helier Hospital remained functional throughout the War and was painted green to make it less visible to German bombers in the latter years of the war. It joined the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
in 1948. The
Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...
visited the hospital in 1963, during the hospital's jubilee year and, in 1987, Diana Princess of Wales opened the new maternity unit. Services were transferred from Queen Mary's Hospital for Children in 1993. St Helier Hospital came under the management of the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust in 1999. In November 2013, as part of the Better Services Better Value Review of NHS services in London, the trust proposed the downgrading of the maternity and Accident and Emergency Departments.


Services

The main building is divided into three blocks: A, B and C. The other buildings are: * The pathology block (labelled D) which also contains the genitourinary medicine clinic * The Women's Health Block (labelled E) (which contains the maternity and gynaecology wards, gynaecology clinics and delivery suite) * Ferguson House (labelled F) (contains some outpatient clinics, administration departments and undergraduate teaching suite) * Queen Mary's Hospital for Children (labelled J) * The renal block (labelled K)


Transport links

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...
routes 151, 157, S1 and S2 stop outside the hospital. The nearest
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
station is Morden Underground station, from which there are frequent buses to the hospital via Rose Hill (about 5 minutes walk from the hospital). The nearest
National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...
station is St Helier station which is slightly less than one mile from the hospital (about a 15-minute walk), although this is infrequently served (only 1 train every 30 minutes off-peak).


Criticism

The hospital has attracted some criticism because of the deteriorating physical condition of the buildings, some of which date from the 1940s. Writing in
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
newspaper, the chief medical officer of the trust, Dr Ruth Charlton, described the hospital as "dilapidated and unpleasant", with regular basement flooding and emergency ward closures. On 13 January 2025, the
phlebotomy Phlebotomy is the process of making a puncture in a vein, usually in the arm, with a cannula for the purpose of drawing blood. The procedure itself is known as a venipuncture, which is also used for intravenous therapy. A person who performs a ...
department closed due to flooding from a partial ceiling collapse. This led to the rescheduling of many blood tests, with patients redirected to other facilities for urgent tests. The trust apologised for the inconvenience and assured that routine blood tests would resume the following day. This incident highlighted ongoing concerns about the hospital's infrastructure, which is part of a broader maintenance backlog for London hospitals, estimated at over £3.6 billion. However, there is hope for future improvements, as the hospital may receive funding from The
King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...
through the New Hospital Programme, which aims to address such infrastructure issues. On 20 January 2025, in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
, Health Secretary
Wes Streeting Wesley Paul William Streeting (; born 21 January 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford ...
confirmed that works on a new hospital building in
Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...
would not begin until 2033 at the earliest, placing it in 'wave two' of the New Hospital Programme.


Notable births

*
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
– Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1990–1997 *
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey (born 29 August 1988) is an English former Commonwealth sprinter and television personality, known for appearing as "Nitro" in the BBC sports endurance competition series '' Gladiators''. He has also taken part in ...
– athlete * Elliot Colburn – MP for Carshalton and Wallington 2019–2024


See also

*
List of hospitals in England The following is a list of hospitals in England. For NHS trusts, see the list of NHS Trusts. East Midlands East of England London North central East North west South east South west North East County Durham Northumberland No ...
*
List of NHS trusts This list of NHS trusts in England provides details of current and former English NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts, acute hospital trusts, ambulance trusts, mental health trust A mental health trust provides health and social care service ...


References


Further reading

* Peacock, D. ''Two O'Clock at the Gate: A Nurses Training During the Fifties''. Victoria, BC: Trafford, 2008. .


External links


St Helier Hospital site map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helier Hospital NHS hospitals in London Hospitals established in 1938 Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Sutton