Royal Free Hospital
Encyclopedia
The Royal Free Hospital (informally the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital
in Hampstead
, London
, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
.
It has been rated "Excellent" for Quality of Services and "Good" for Quality of Financial Management by the Healthcare Commission
. The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
is a member of the UCL Partners
academic health science centre
.
The nearest Tube
stop is Belsize Park
.
, Holborn
by the surgeon William Marsden
(1796–1867) in 1828 to provide - as the name indicates - free care to those of little means. The royal charter
was granted by Queen Victoria
in 1837 after a cholera
epidemic in which the hospital had extended care to many victims. The London School of Medicine for Women
, since August 1998 a part of the UCL Medical School, was the first to train female doctors
in the UK.
It also houses part of the UCL Medical School and its associated research facilities. Significant advances in the fields of liver medicine (hepatology
) and transplantation
; renal disease and dialysis
; haematology and haemophilia
have been made at the Royal Free and the trust now treats all patients needing dialysis in north and central London. The Professor
ial department of liver medicine is recognized as one of the leading research
units of its type in the world. It was founded by the late Prof. Dame Sheila Sherlock
, DBE
. Continuing its pioneering work in transplantation is Professor Peter Butler
, who is hoping to do the first full face transplant in the West in 2009.
The Royal Free Hospital was the first in the UK to appoint a consultant in HIV
medicine back in 1989. Dr Margaret Johnson, a specialist in thoracic medicine, has built the Royal Free Centre for HIV Medicine, which is at the forefront of treatment of HIV and AIDS
. The out-patients' centre was opened in 1992 by Sir Ian McKellen
and is named after actor Ian Charleson
. Its garden, where patients can relax, was opened by Sir Elton John
.
of a paper by Andrew Wakefield
who claimed to have found a possible link between the MMR vaccine
and autism
. This started a controversy which led to a crisis in public confidence over MMR and a fall in uptake of the vaccine. Wakefield left the medical school in October 2001, and was later struck off the UK medical register by the General Medical Council
following an investigation by The Sunday Times
.
Teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises The Royal Free Hospital, The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and clinics run by the Trust at Edgware Community Hospital, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital, Finchley Memorial Hospital and North...
.
It has been rated "Excellent" for Quality of Services and "Good" for Quality of Financial Management by the Healthcare Commission
Healthcare Commission
The Healthcare Commission was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom. It was set up to promote and drive improvement in the quality of health care and public health in England and Wales...
. The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises The Royal Free Hospital, The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and clinics run by the Trust at Edgware Community Hospital, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital, Finchley Memorial Hospital and North...
is a member of the UCL Partners
UCL Partners
UCL Partners is an academic health science centre located in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest academic health science centre in Europe, treats more than 1.5 million patients each year, has an annual turnover of around £2 billion and includes around 3,500 scientists, senior researchers and...
academic health science centre
Academic health science centre
An academic health science centre is a partnership between one or more universities and healthcare providers focusing on research, clinical services, education and training...
.
The nearest Tube
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
stop is Belsize Park
Belsize Park tube station
Belsize Park tube station is a London Underground station in Belsize Park, North-West London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Chalk Farm and Hampstead stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. It is located at the northern end of Haverstock Hill...
.
History
The Royal Free was founded in Gray's Inn RoadGray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road, formerly Gray's Inn Lane, is a major road in central London, in the London Borough of Camden. It is named after Gray's Inn, one of the main Inns of Court. The road starts in Holborn, near Chancery Lane tube station and the boundaries of the City of London and the London Borough...
, Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
by the surgeon William Marsden
William Marsden (surgeon)
William Marsden was an English surgeon whose main achievements are the founding of two presently well-known hospitals, the Royal Free Hospital and the Royal Marsden Hospital ....
(1796–1867) in 1828 to provide - as the name indicates - free care to those of little means. The royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
was granted by Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
in 1837 after a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic in which the hospital had extended care to many victims. The London School of Medicine for Women
London School of Medicine for Women
The London School of Medicine for Women was established in 1874 and was the first medical school in Britain to train women.The school was formed by an association of pioneering women physicians Sophia Jex-Blake, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Emily Blackwell and Elizabeth Blackwell with Thomas Henry...
, since August 1998 a part of the UCL Medical School, was the first to train female doctors
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in the UK.
It also houses part of the UCL Medical School and its associated research facilities. Significant advances in the fields of liver medicine (hepatology
Hepatology
Hepatology is the branch of medicine that incorporates the study of liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas as well as management of their disorders. Etymologically the word Hepatology is formed of ancient Greek hepar or hepato- meaning ' liver' and suffix -logia meaning 'word' or 'speech'...
) and transplantation
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
; renal disease and dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
; haematology and haemophilia
Haemophilia
Haemophilia is a group of hereditary genetic disorders that impair the body's ability to control blood clotting or coagulation, which is used to stop bleeding when a blood vessel is broken. Haemophilia A is the most common form of the disorder, present in about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births...
have been made at the Royal Free and the trust now treats all patients needing dialysis in north and central London. The Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
ial department of liver medicine is recognized as one of the leading research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
units of its type in the world. It was founded by the late Prof. Dame Sheila Sherlock
Sheila Sherlock
Professor Dame Sheila Patricia Violet Sherlock, Mrs. James, DBE, MD, FRCP, FRCP Ed, FRS was a British physician, hepatologist and teacher.-Early life:...
, DBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. Continuing its pioneering work in transplantation is Professor Peter Butler
Peter Butler (surgeon)
Peter E M Butler, FRCSI, FRCS is Professor of plastic surgery at University College London, consultant plastic surgeon, clinical director of surgery and head of the face transplantation team at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England.-Education and training:The eldest son of Professor Norman...
, who is hoping to do the first full face transplant in the West in 2009.
The Royal Free Hospital was the first in the UK to appoint a consultant in HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
medicine back in 1989. Dr Margaret Johnson, a specialist in thoracic medicine, has built the Royal Free Centre for HIV Medicine, which is at the forefront of treatment of HIV and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. The out-patients' centre was opened in 1992 by Sir Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
and is named after actor Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
. Its garden, where patients can relax, was opened by Sir Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
.
Royal Free disease
In 1955 an apparent outbreak of an infectious illness categorised with a fever and subsequent persisting fatigue affected 292 members of staff and forced the hospital's closure between 25 July and 5 October. Although since debated whether the episode was of an infectious cause, or just an example of mass hysteria, this was a notable case in the UK and eventually coined the term myalgic encephalomyelitis.MMR vaccine
In February 1998, the Royal Free held a press conference to coincide with the publication in The LancetThe Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
of a paper by Andrew Wakefield
Andrew Wakefield
Andrew Wakefield is a British former surgeon and medical researcher, known as an advocate for the discredited claim that there is a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, autism and bowel disease, and for his fraudulent 1998 research paper in support of that claim.Four years after...
who claimed to have found a possible link between the MMR vaccine
MMR vaccine
The MMR vaccine is an immunization shot against measles, mumps, and rubella . It was first developed by Maurice Hilleman while at Merck in the late 1960s....
and autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
. This started a controversy which led to a crisis in public confidence over MMR and a fall in uptake of the vaccine. Wakefield left the medical school in October 2001, and was later struck off the UK medical register by the General Medical Council
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
following an investigation by The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
.