View source for St Thomas' Hospital

{{other uses|St. Thomas Hospital (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox hospital
| Name = St Thomas' Hospital
| Org/Group = [[King's Health Partners]] <br> [[Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust]]
| Image = st.thomas.hospital.arp.750pix.jpg
| Image_size =
| Caption = St Thomas' Hospital, located across the [[River Thames]] from the [[Houses of Parliament]]
| Logo = <!-- optional -->
| Location = [[Westminster Bridge Road]]<br>London, {{postcode|SE|1}} 7EH
| State =
| Country = England
| HealthCare = [[National Health Service (England)|NHS England]]
| Type = Teaching
| Speciality = Dermatology, cardiothoracic surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, children's services (Evelina London Children's Hospital), critical care, clinical pharmacology, cancer services, dentistry, urology, sexual health
| Standards = <!-- optional -->
| Emergency = Yes
| Affiliation = [[King's College London GKT School of Medical Education]]
| Beds = 840<ref name="Beds">{{cite web|url=http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/about-us/quality-story/our-quality-story.aspx|title=Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: Our quality story|access-date=16 May 2014}}</ref>
| Founded = circa 1100
| Closed = <!-- optional -->
| publictransit = {{rint|london|underground}} [[Westminster tube station|Westminster]]<br />{{rint|london|underground}} {{rint|gb|rail}} [[London Waterloo station|Waterloo]]<br />{{rint|london|underground}} [[Lambeth North tube station|Lambeth North]]
| Website = {{URL|guysandstthomas.nhs.uk}}
| Wiki-Links = <!-- optional -->
| map_type = United Kingdom London Lambeth
| map_caption = Shown in Lambeth|
}}
'''St Thomas' Hospital''' is a large [[National Health Service|NHS]] [[teaching hospital]] in [[Central London]], England. Administratively part of the [[Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust]], together with [[Guy's Hospital]], [[Evelina London Children's Hospital]], [[Royal Brompton Hospital]] and other sites. It is also a member of [[King's Health Partners]], an [[academic health science centre]], and is one of three sites used by [[King's College London GKT School of Medical Education]].

The hospital was established in the [[Middle Ages]] and named for [[St Thomas Becket]]. Originally located in [[Southwark]], but based in [[Lambeth]] since 1871, the hospital has provided healthcare freely or under charitable auspices since the 12th century. It is one of London's most famous hospitals, associated with people such as [[Astley Cooper|Sir Astley Cooper]], [[William Cheselden]], [[Florence Nightingale]], [[Alicia Lloyd Still]], [[Linda Richards]], [[Edmund Montgomery]], [[Agnes Jones|Agnes Elizabeth Jones]] and [[Harold Ridley (ophthalmologist)|Sir Harold Ridley]]. It is a prominent London landmark – largely due to its location on the opposite bank of the [[River Thames]] to the [[Palace of Westminster|Houses of Parliament]].

St Thomas' Hospital is accessible from [[Westminster tube station]] (a 10-minute walk across [[Westminster Bridge]]), [[London Waterloo railway station|Waterloo station]] (tube and national rail, also a 10-minute walk) and [[Lambeth North tube station]] (another 10-minute walk).

==History==
===The Hospital at The Borough, Southwark===
[[File:St Thomas' Hospital, London. Oil painting. Wellcome V0017211.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|An oil painting of St Thomas' Hospital in [[Southwark]], south London]]
The hospital was described as ancient in 1215<ref name=Foundation>{{cite web|title=The Foundation of St Thomas's|page=1|url=http://www.thegarret.org.uk/pdfs/exhibitions/stthomashospitalmedieval.pdf|access-date=3 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216151658/http://www.thegarret.org.uk/pdfs/exhibitions/stthomashospitalmedieval.pdf|archive-date=16 December 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=Chronology>{{cite web |title=A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related Services in Britain 1066–1999 |page=11 |url=http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/r_chronology_of_state_medicine.pdf |access-date=3 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924015045/http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/r_chronology_of_state_medicine.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Our history|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/about/history/index.aspx|publisher=King's College London}}</ref> and was named after St [[Thomas Becket]] – which suggests it may have been founded after 1173 when Becket was canonised.<ref name=Foundation /> This date was when it was relocated from the precinct of [[St Mary Overie]] Priory to "Trenet Lane", then later to [[St Thomas Street, Southwark|St Thomas Street]].<ref name=Foundation /> However, it is possible it was only renamed in 1173 and that there was an infirmary at the priory when it was founded at [[Southwark]] in 1106.<ref name=Chronology /><ref name=Foundation />

Originally the hospital was run by a mixed order of Augustinian [[canons regular]] and [[canonesses regular]], dedicated to St Thomas Becket, and provided shelter and treatment for the poor, sick, and homeless.<ref name=Foundation /> In the 15th century, [[Richard Whittington]] endowed a [[lying-in]] ward for unmarried mothers. The monastery was dissolved in 1539 during the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] and the hospital closed but reopened in 1551 and rededicated to [[Thomas the Apostle]].<ref name=Chronology /><ref name=Foundation /> This was due to the efforts of the City of London who obtained the grant of the site and a charter of 1553 from [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] (26th June, 7 Edw. VI) establishing three institutions [[Bridewell Palace|Bridewell Hospital]], [[Christ's Hospital]] and St Thomas' Hospital. The hospital has remained open ever since.<ref>{{cite web|date=1 February 2002 |url=http://www.gktgazette.com/2002/feb/features.asp#3 |title=St Thomas's Hospital – A Concise History |work=gkt gazette |publisher=Guy's, King's & St. Thomas's Hospitals Medical & Dental Schools |archive-date=25 October 2006 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061025233419/http://www.gktgazette.com/2002/feb/features.asp#3 }}</ref>

The hospital was also where one of the [[Matthew Bible|first printed English Bibles]] was produced in 1537, and this is commemorated by a plaque on the surviving wing in Borough High Street. The plaque inaccurately refers to "the first printed Bible in English" rather than "one of the first".<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk/st-thomas-hospital-and-first-printed-bible-in-english-grey-plaque-in-london-1940|title= St. Thomas' Hospital and first printed bible in English grey plaque in London|publisher=Blue Plaques|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

There were some twenty-four priors, masters, wardens or rectors who served between the foundation of the hospital and the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1539.<ref>{{cite web|title=Victoria County History, Surrey, vol.2, Hospital of St Thomas Southwark |pages=119–124 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37826}}</ref>

Dr. Eleazar Hodson was the first St Thomas' physician about whom the medical historian [[Joseph Frank Payne]] was able to find any precise information. Hodson received his medical degree at [[University of Padua|Padua]] in 1612 and became [[Royal College of Physicians|F.R.C.P.]] in 1618.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=''On some old physicians of St. Thomas's Hospital'' by J. F. Payne|title=Saint Thomas's Hospitals Reports. New Series|volume=XXVI|year=1898|pages=1–23|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dcDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1}}</ref> At the end of the 17th century, the hospital and church were largely rebuilt by [[Robert Clayton (Lord Mayor)|Sir Robert Clayton]], president of the hospital and a former [[Lord Mayor of London]]. [[Thomas Cartwright (architect)|Thomas Cartwright]] was the architect for the work. A [[Statue of Robert Clayton|statue of Clayton]] now stands at the north entrance to Ward Block of North Wing at St Thomas' Hospital and is Grade I listed.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1319925|desc=Statue of Robert Clayton at North Entrance to Ward Block of North Wing at St Thomas' Hospital, Non Civil Parish |access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> In 1721 [[Thomas Guy|Sir Thomas Guy]], a governor of St Thomas', founded [[Guy's Hospital]] as a place to treat 'incurables' discharged from St Thomas'.<ref>{{cite web|title='Guy's Hospital', in Survey of London: Volume 22, Bankside (The Parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark), ed. Howard Roberts and Walter H Godfrey |location=London|year= 1950|pages= 36–42|publisher=British History Online|url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol22/pp36-42 |access-date= 18 April 2018}}</ref>
[[File:St. Thomas Hospital (3984337187).jpg|thumb|The site of St Thomas' Hospital in Southwark 'where the first [[English Bible]] was printed'. The plaque is misleading because the first such English Bible, the [[Coverdale Bible]], was printed in [[Antwerp]] in 1535.]]
[[File:Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals from 1833 Schmollinger map.jpg|thumb|The location of [[Guy's Hospital|Guy's]] and St Thomas' hospitals {{circa|1833}}]]
[[File:Southwark Civil Parish Map 1870.png|thumb|A map showing the parish of St. Thomas within Southwark]]

[[File:St. Thomas Church and Old Operating Theatre.jpg|thumb|right|The old [[St Thomas' Church, Southwark|St Thomas's Church]], a long-deconsecrated space built in the 1690s, containing the [[Old Operating Theatre]] Museum and Herb Garret.]]
{{anchor|Saint Thomas's Hospital Act 1862}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Saint Thomas's Hospital Act 1862
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to enable the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, Governors of the Possessions, Revenues, and Goods of the Hospital of Edward, late King of England the Sixth, of Saint Thomas the Apostle, commonly called "Saint Thomas's Hospital", to convey the Site of the present Hospital to the Charing Cross Railway Company, and to acquire a new Site for the same Hospital; and for other Purposes.
| year                  = 1862
| citation              = [[25 & 26 Vict.]] c. ''4''
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 7 August 1862
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukppa/Vict/25-26/4/pdfs/ukppa_18620004_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
Some parts of the old St Thomas' Hospital survive on the north side of St Thomas Street, Southwark including the old [[St Thomas' Church, Southwark|St. Thomas' Church]], now used mostly as offices but including the [[Old Operating Theatre]], which is now a museum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thegarret.org.uk/|title=Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret Web Site|access-date=13 August 2014}}</ref> However the hospital left Southwark in 1862, when its ancient site was [[compulsory purchase|compulsorily purchased]] to make way for the construction of the Charing Cross railway viaduct from London Bridge Station.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/charing-cross-railway/4592828266|title=The Building of the London Bridge to Charing Cross Railway|publisher=Exploring Southwark|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> The hospital was temporarily housed at [[Royal Surrey Gardens]] in Newington (Walworth) until new buildings on the present site in Lambeth near [[Lambeth Palace]] were completed in 1871.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=128|title=St Thomas Hospital|publisher=National Archives|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

===The Victorian hospital in Lambeth===
[[File:'St Thomas's Hospital 1860', aerial view. Wellcome L0001069.jpg|thumb|St Thomas' Hospital 1860, aerial view]]
[[File:The Six Towers Of St Thomas's.jpg|thumb|Surviving pavilions of the 1868 building]]
The present-day St Thomas' Hospital is located at a site historically known as [[Stangate]] in the [[London Borough of Lambeth]].  It is directly across the [[River Thames]] from the [[Palace of Westminster]] on a plot of land largely reclaimed from the river during construction of the [[Albert Embankment]] in the late 1860s. The new buildings were designed by [[Henry Currey (architect)|Henry Currey]] and the foundation stone was laid by [[Queen Victoria]] in 1868.<ref name=survey>{{cite web|title='St Thomas' Hospital', in Survey of London: Volume 23, Lambeth: South Bank and Vauxhall, ed. Howard Roberts and Walter H Godfrey |location=London|year=1951|pages= 79–80|publisher= British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol23/pp79-80 |access-date= 19 April 2018}}</ref> There was a seventh pavilion at the north end of the site next to Westminster Bridge Road for the "Treasurer's House" (hospital offices).<ref name=survey/> The hospital initially had 600 beds.<ref name=survey/>

This was one of the first new hospitals to adopt the "pavilion principle" – popularised by Florence Nightingale in her ''[[Notes on Nursing]]'' – by having six separate ward buildings at right angles to the river frontage set 125 feet apart and linked by low corridors. The intention was primarily to improve ventilation and to separate and segregate patients with infectious diseases.<ref>{{cite book | title= Notes on Nursing: What it is and what it is not | last= Nightingale| first= Florence|author-link=Florence Nightingale | chapter=Introduction by Joan Quixley| year= 1974 |orig-year= First published 1859 | publisher= Blackie & Son Ltd.| location= Glasgow & London|isbn=0-216-89974-5}}</ref>

''"St. Thomas's Home"'' was established in one of the end blocks of the hospital in the early 1880s "for persons of both sexes of the middle and upper classes willing to pay for medical attendance and nursing therein, at the rate of not less than 8s. a day, paid weekly in advance".<ref>{{cite book | title= The Royal Guide to the London Charities | url = https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/The_Royal_guide_to_the_London_charities_%28IA_b24852235%29.pdf | access-date = 17 April 2025 | page =xxi | edition = 19th | date =1881 | first = Herbert | last = Fry }}</ref>

An urban legend suggests that by convention, deaths in the Palace of Westminster are recorded as occurring in St Thomas' Hospital, because it is technically a royal palace, and as such people who die there would be entitled to a state funeral.<ref name="Deaths in Parliament">{{Citation| last = Garrick| first = Alder | title = Deaths in Parliament: A Legend Re-Examined| newspaper = Lobster Magazine| year = 2017| url = https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/article/issue/73/deaths-in-parliament-a-legend-re-examined/| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231031041301/https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/article/issue/73/deaths-in-parliament-a-legend-re-examined/| archive-date = 2023-10-31| access-date = 2023-12-11}}</ref> This is not true, since state funerals for any person other than a sovereign require an order from the reigning monarch as well as a parliamentary vote to authorise the funding.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bowers|first=Paul|title=State and Ceremonial Funerals|date=2013-07-31 |access-date=2023-12-11|website=parliament.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210175911/https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06600/SN06600.pdf|archive-date=2023-12-10|url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06600/SN06600.pdf}}</ref> 

A similar myth suggests that the place of death is changed because a death in a royal palace would require an inquest from the [[Coroner of the Queen's Household]] and a hearing before a jury of members of the [[Royal Households of the United Kingdom|Royal Household]]. Although the position of Coroner of the Queen's Household was abolished by the [[Coroners and Justice Act 2009]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Coroners and Justice Act 2009|website=legislation.gov.uk|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/section/46|access-date=2023-12-11}}</ref> in the past the Coroner was responsible for inquests where the victim was "lying within the limits of the Queen's palaces",<ref>{{cite web|title=Coroners Act 1887|website=legislation.gov.uk|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1887/71/pdfs/ukpga_18870071_en.pdf|access-date=2023-12-11}}</ref> which would have included the Palace of Westminster. However, there is no proof that deaths at Westminster were ever reported as happening at St Thomas' Hospital to avoid involving the Coroner. When [[Alfred Billson (British politician)|Sir Alfred Billson]] died in the [[House of Commons]] in 1907, his death was recorded as occurring in the House and not at St Thomas' Hospital.<ref name="Deaths in Parliament" /> 

The hospital was requisitioned by the [[War Office]] in 1914 to create the 5th London General Hospital, a facility for the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] to treat military casualties.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/fifthlondon.html|title=Fifth London General Hospital|publisher=Lost Hospitals of London|access-date=21 July 2019}}</ref>

===Post-war rebuilding===
[[File:News uk archives.jpg|thumb|St Thomas Hospital, London, the night after an air raid. Courtesy of News UK Archive.]]
The northern part of the hospital site was severely damaged during the [[World War II|Second World War]], with three ward blocks destroyed. Limited reconstruction began in the 1950s including the building now known as East Wing. Complete rebuilding to a more ambitious plan to designs by [[Yorke Rosenberg Mardall]] was agreed on in the 1960s requiring the realignment of [[Lambeth Palace Road]] further away from the river to enlarge the hospital campus. The new buildings have white-tiled cladding, which was a characteristic of several other university and hospital buildings designed by that practice.<ref>{{cite magazine |url= http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/3rd-october-1992/35/architecture|title= Architecture|date=3 October 1992 |magazine=The Spectator |access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

As construction of the thirteen storey block (now North Wing) was completed by [[John Laing Group|John Laing & Sons]] in 1975<ref>Ritchie, p. 147</ref> there was a widespread public reaction against the scale and appearance of this building – most notably from MPs who could see it from the river terrace of the Palace of Westminster. The southern part of the redevelopment, which would have included a second tall block, was never constructed. The three remaining Victorian ward pavilion blocks were refurbished in the 1980s. They are now [[Grade II]] [[listed buildings]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-204399-block-9-of-st-thomas-s-hospital-medical- |title=Block 9 of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School – Lambeth – Greater London – England – British Listed Buildings |author=Good Stuff |publisher=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk |access-date=13 September 2015}}</ref>

In November 1949, in an operating theatre in St Thomas' Hospital, [[Harold Ridley (ophthalmologist)|Harold Ridley]] achieved the world's first implantation of an [[intraocular lens]] (IOL), treating a [[cataract]] in a 49-year-old female patient. In later life Ridley himself underwent successful bilateral intraocular lens implantation at St Thomas's. What was most pleasing to him was that he had the operation done in the same hospital where he had performed the first operation in 1949.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Williams |first1 = H. P. |title=Sir Harold Ridley's vision |doi=10.1136/bjo.85.9.1022 |journal=British Journal of Ophthalmology | volume = 85 | issue = 9 | pages = 1022–1023 | year = 2001 | pmid =  11520745| pmc =1724118 }}</ref> Ridley was subsequently made a [[Knight Bachelor]] "for pioneering services to cataracts surgery".<ref name="AppleDavid">{{cite book |last=Apple |first=David J |title=Sir Harold Ridley and his fight for sight |year=2006 |publisher=SLACK Incorporated |isbn=1-55642-786-7}}</ref>

With the closure of the [[Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital]] at the [[Greenwich Hospital (London)|Greenwich Hospital]] in 1986, services for seamen and their families are provided by the Dreadnought Unit at St Thomas' Hospital. It allows eligible [[merchant navy|merchant seafarer]]s access to priority medical treatment, except cardiac surgery, and is funded by central government with money separate from other NHS trust funds. It originally consisted of two 28-bed wards, but nowadays Dreadnought patients are treated according to clinical need and so are placed in the ward most suitable for their medical condition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seahospital.org.uk/dreadnought-medical/ |title=Dreadnought Medical Service |publisher=Seafarers Hospital Society |access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

Following the merger of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals into one trust, accident and emergency services were consolidated at St Thomas' Hospital in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/about-us/who/guys-and-st-thomas-story.pdf|title=The Guy's and St Thomas' Story|publisher= Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> Former prime minister [[Harold Wilson]] died at the hospital on 24 May 1995, as a result of cancer and [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infobritain.co.uk/harold_wilson.htm|title=Harold Wilson|publisher=Info Britain|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821162011/http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Harold_Wilson.htm|archive-date=21 August 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In the late 1980s Dr Chris Aps introduced changes at St Thomas' Hospital which allowed cardiothoracic surgical patients to recover away from the [[intensive care unit]] in an overnight intensive recovery unit: this has become a template for similar units across the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11081053|title= Postoperative critical care: overnight intensive recovery|publisher= British Journal of Anaesthesia|date=1 September 2002|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> In October 2005 children's departments moved to new facilities designed by [[Michael Hopkins (architect)|Michael Hopkins]] at [[Evelina London Children's Hospital]] to the south-east of St Thomas' Hospital.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://structurae.net/structures/evelina-childrens-hospital|title= Evelina London Children's Hospital|publisher=Structurae|access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref>

===Response to COVID-19===

As the situation in Wuhan deteriorated, at the end of January 2020, four hospital trusts in the UK, including St Thomas' and [[Royal Free Hospital|The Royal Free]] were put on standby to receive suspected patients.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/uk-coronavirus-symptoms-warning-a4342446.html|title=Don't go to A&E if you fear you have coronavirus, top doctor warns|date=2020-01-23|website=Evening Standard|language=en|access-date=2020-04-10}}</ref>

After testing positive to COVID-19 on 27 March, Prime Minister [[Boris Johnson]] was admitted to St Thomas' on 5 April and as his condition deteriorated, he was moved to intensive care later that day.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52192604|title=UK PM Boris Johnson taken to intensive care|date=6 April 2020|work=BBC News|access-date=6 April 2020|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="IT Reactions Guardian">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/06/coronavirus-live-news-boris-johnson-admitted-to-hospital-as-trump-again-touts-hydroxychloroquine|title=Coronavirus: Boris Johnson taken into intensive care – live updates|last=Rawlinson|first=Kevin|date=6 April 2020|website=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=6 April 2020}}</ref> He was moved out of intensive care on 9 April and discharged 3 days later.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-52262012|title=Boris Johnson discharged from hospital|date=2020-04-12|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-04-12|language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Facilities==
The current main pedestrian entrance is in Westminster Bridge Road, although there is a separate vehicle and A&E entrance in Lambeth Palace Road; there is also a riverside pedestrian entrance, and the Lane Fox Unit (chronic respiratory problems) has its own riverside entrance, mainly for the use of patients on the Lane Fox Ward. The pedestrian entrance to the campus leads to a glazed link between the Lambeth Wing and the North Wing. Guy's and St Thomas' Charity commissioned sculptor [[Rick Kirby]] to produce a sculpture "[[commons:Image:Cross the Divide.JPG|Cross the Divide]]", and this was unveiled in 2000 outside the Main Entrance.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/1006/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180420074254/http://pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/1006/|url-status= dead|archive-date= 20 April 2018|title= Cross the Divide, Lambeth Palace Road|publisher=Public Monuments and Scriptures Association|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> To the north of the North Wing (closer to Westminster Bridge Road) there is a garden area above car parking with [[Naum Gabo]]'s fountain sculpture ''[[Revolving Torsion]]'' at its centre.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1430741|desc=Revolving Torsion|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

Tommy's is a UK-based charity that funds research into pregnancy problems and provides information to parents. The charity believes that it is unacceptable that one in four women in the UK will lose a baby during pregnancy and birth. It started when two obstetricians working in the maternity unit at the hospital were inspired to start fundraising for more research into pregnancy problems. It funds three research centres in the UK, including St Thomas' in London, [[Saint Mary's Hospital, Manchester]], and the recently established [[Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite web|title=What does Tommy's do?|url=http://www.tommys.org/page.aspx?pid=247 |publisher=tommys.org | access-date=4 January 2013}}</ref>

==Name==
The use of the plural genitive '''s'''' in place of the singular genitive '''s's''' is fairly recent. The hospital newsletter in 2004 claimed that plural '''s'''' is grammatically correct, as "there are two men called St Thomas linked to the hospital's history: [[Thomas Becket]] and [[Thomas the Apostle]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 2004 |title=WE TRUST THAT EXPLAINS THE ST THOMAS’ APOSTROPHE! |url=http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/PDF/publications/people/People_February.pdf |journal=GSST People Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926232357/http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/PDF/publications/people/People_February.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2007}}</ref> A hospital belonging to two men, both called Thomas, would be Thomases', so the name change in the late 20th century is considered by some to be a simple mistake.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Wordsworth |first1=Dot |date=19 June 2008 |title=Mind your language |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/06/mind-your-language-198/ |url-access=registration |access-date=2 September 2017 |magazine=The Spectator}} {{Deadlink|date=April 2025}}</ref>

Within the South Wing of the hospital there are a number of late Victorian brass plaques headed "St Thomas's Hospital" i.e. using singular genitive. However, the medical school used the singular genitive '''s's'''; the explanation given for this was that as the medical school of the hospital it was called "[[St Thomas's Hospital Medical School]]" (although following this logic it should perhaps have been called "St Thomas's Hospital's Medical School").<ref name="pmid14910157">{{cite journal |author=Crockford AL |title=History of St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School |journal=Medicine Illustrated |volume=5 |issue=12 |location=London |pages=568–72 |date=December 1951 |pmid=14910157 }}</ref>

==Medical training at St Thomas' Hospital==
[[St Thomas's Hospital Medical School]] was established in 1550.  Following the establishment of [[Guy's Hospital]] as a separate institution, this continued as a single medical school, commonly known as '''The Borough Hospitals''', with teaching across St Thomas' and Guy's Hospitals.  Following a dispute over the successor to the Surgeon [[Astley Cooper]], Guy's established its own separate medical school in 1825.<ref name="AIM25">{{cite web | title=St Thomas's Hospital Medical School Records | url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5742&inst_id=6 | publisher=Archives in London and the M25 area }}</ref>

The medical school subsequently remerged in 1982 with that at Guy's to form the [[United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals]] (UMDS). Subsequent additions included the [[Royal Dental Hospital|Royal Dental Hospital of London]] School of Dental Surgery joining with Guy's Dental School on 1 August 1983 and '''St John's Institute of Dermatology''' on 1 August 1985.<ref name="AIM25"/> The latter had previously been located at 5 Lisle Street in [[Soho, London|Soho]].<ref>{{cite web |title=St John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin |url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101274847-st-johns-hospital-for-diseases-of-the-skin-st-jamess-ward |website=British Listed Buildings |access-date=17 December 2022}}</ref>

Following discussion held between 1990 and 1992 with [[King's College London]] and the King's College London Act 1997, the UMDS merged in 1998 with King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry to form as The Guy's, Kings & Thomas' Schools of Medicine (GKT School of Medicine), of Dentistry and of Biomedical Sciences.<ref name="AIM25"/> This was renamed as '''King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospitals''' in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.londonmedicine.ac.uk/school/king-s-college-london-school-of-medicine-at-guy-s-king-s-and-st-thomas-hospitals/|title=King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospitals|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

== Nurse training at St.Thomas' Hospital ==
The '''Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses''' opened at St Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860 under Matron [[Sarah Elizabeth Wardroper]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seymour |first=L.R |title=A General History of Nursing |publisher=Faber & Faber LTD |year=1956 |edition=4TH |pages=P92-100}}</ref> endowed from the publicly donated Fund raised after the [[Crimean War]] to honour [[Florence Nightingale]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-05 |title=The Nightingale Fund |url=https://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/the-nightingale-fund/ |access-date=October 3, 2022 |website=The Florence Nightingale Museum}}</ref> [[Alicia Lloyd Still|Alicia LLoyd Still]] (matron of the hospital and superintendent of the training school from 1913 to 1937) created the first post of sister tutor, setting a model internationally.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Editorial |date=13 January 1938 |title=Dame Alicia Lloyd Still: Forty years of hospital service |work=The Times |pages=9}}</ref>  Notable alumni of the training school included: [[Lucy Gwendoline Duff Grant|Lucy Duff Grant]] [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[Royal Red Cross|RRC]] (matron of the [[Manchester Royal Infirmary]] (1929 to 1955) and president of the [[Royal College of Nursing]] (1951 to 1953);<ref>{{Citation |last=Kershaw |first=Betty |title=Grant, Lucy Gwendoline Duff (1894 to 1984), nurse |date=2020-02-13 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58388 |access-date=2025-04-03 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.58388 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Dorothy Bannon]], (Chief Matron-in-Charge of the Hospital and School Nursing Service of the [[London County Council]] from 1929 to 1940);<ref>{{cite book|last=Heaman|first=Elsbeth|title=St. Mary's: The History of a London Teaching Hospital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Inoa5cbQRTYC&pg=PA437|year=2003|publisher=Liverpool University Press|location=Liverpool, England|isbn=978-0-85323-968-0|page=437}}</ref> Dame [[Barbara Cozens]] (Matron-in-Chief and Director of Army Nursing Services from 1960 to 1964),<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/dame-barbara-cozens-1599693.html |title=Obituary: Dame Barbara Cozens |first=Jill |last=Machray |date=5 September 1995 |accessdate=21 August 2016}}</ref> and [[Theodora Turner]] (Matron at St. Thomas' 1955 to 1965 and President of the [[Royal College of Nursing]] 1966 to 1968.)<ref>{{Cite journal |date=7 September 1999 |title="Theodora Turner." |journal=The Times |pages=21}}</ref>

The school merged with other training schools in the 1990s, then became the [[Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery|Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care]], part of [[King's College London]].<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=5195090 | volume=17 | title=[The first nursing school in the world—St. Thomas Hospital School in London] | year=1969 | journal=Munca sanitară | pages=449–54 | last1 = Petroni | first1 = A| issue=8 }}</ref>

==Arms==

{{Infobox COA wide
|image = File:Coat of arms St Thomas' hospital.png
|notes = Granted 14 February 1950.<ref>{{cite web |title=Heraldry of the World |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/St_Thomas%27_Hospital |website=www.heraldry-wiki.com |access-date=18 February 2024}}</ref> <br>Prior to the formal granting of these arms in 1950 the hospital used a similar but simpler version.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fox-Davies |first1=Arthur Charles |title=The Book of Public Arms |orig-date=1 Jan 1915 | date=2021 |publisher=T.C. and  E.C. Jack |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1528309837 |page=688 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofpublicarms00foxd/page/688/mode/2up?q=barts&view=theater |access-date=20 February 2024}}</ref> The cross and sword refer to the city of London. In the chief the blue colour and the fleur-de-lys reference the royal arms of Edward VI. The nightingale supporter references [[Florence Nightingale]] and is a symbol for a hospital. The two choughs, one a supporter and the other on the escutcheon are popularly known as the Becket bird and represent [[Thomas Becket]] after whom the original hospital was named. The spears in the crest represents [[Thomas the Apostle]], who was speared to death. 
|escutcheon = Argent, on a cross between in the first quarter a sword erect gules and in the second quarter a chough proper, a roach haurient of the first; on a chief azure a rose of the field, barbed and seeded proper, between two fleurs-de-lys Or.
|crest = On a wreath of the colours, Between four spears, points upwards, sable, embrued gules, three Madonna lilies argent, stalked and leaved vert.
|supporters = On the dexter side a chough, and on the sinister side a nightingale, both proper.
|motto = }}

==In popular culture==
* In the 1975 crime film ''[[Brannigan (film)|Brannigan]]'', interior shots in an office set with a Thames river view constructed on an upper floor in the north-east corner of the (built but not yet commissioned) North Wing stood in for "[[Scotland Yard]]" in scenes between [[John Wayne]] (Chicago police detective Brannigan) and [[Richard Attenborough]] (Metropolitan Police Commander Swann).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/brannigan.html|title=Brannigan|publisher=Movie Locations|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>
* [[Graham Swift]]'s 1996 novel ''[[Last Orders]]'' features several scenes from the hospital where one of the main characters, Jack Dodds, dies from cancer.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lyall|first1=Sarah|title=Graham Swift's 'Last Orders' Receives the Booker Prize|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/30/books/graham-swift-s-last-orders-receives-the-booker-prize.html|access-date=22 May 2017|work=The New York Times|date=30 October 1996}}</ref>
* The main building was used as the exterior shot of the fictional Royal Hope Hospital featured in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)|Smith and Jones]]".<ref>{{cite episode |title=Smith and Jones |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |airdate=31 March 2007 |season=3 |number=1}}</ref>
* The hospital also featured in the 2002 film ''[[28 Days Later]]'' in which the hospital was abandoned due to the nationwide outbreak of a deadly virus which causes its victims to go insane.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/t/28_Days_Later.html|title=28 Days Later| publisher=Movie Locations|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>
* Popular novelist [[Lucilla Andrews]] trained as a nurse at St Thomas' during the Second World War, and her experiences there are recounted in her autobiography ''No Time for Romance'' as well as being the basis for a series of wartime romances set in a fictional hospital inspired by St Thomas'.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lucilla Andrews books |url=https://www.lucillaandrews.com/lucilla-andrews-books/page/3/ |website=Lucilla Andrews |publisher=Wyndham Media Ltd. |access-date=9 January 2022}}</ref>
* [[The Kinks]]' "[[Waterloo Sunset]]" was inspired in part by songwriter [[Ray Davies]]' view over the Thames from St. Thomas while he was a patient there following a [[tracheotomy]] at age 13.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 October 2011 |title=Ray Davies - How a lonely Londoner created one of the great Sixties |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/ray-davies--how-a-lonely-londoner-created-one-of-the-great-sixties-songs-2343826.html |work=The Independent}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Naum Gabo Fountain 02.jpg|''[[Revolving Torsion]]'' kinetic sculpture/fountain by [[Naum Gabo]]
File:Mary Seacole statue, St Thomas' Hospital, front view.jpg|[[Statue of Mary Seacole]] at St Thomas' Hospital, by [[Martin Jennings]]
File:St Thomas's Hospital plaque 1898.jpg|Plaque indicating name included singular genitive '''s's''' in the past
File:St Thomas Main Entrance.JPG|Main pedestrian entrance from Westminster Bridge Road
File:St Thomas Information Sign.JPG|St Thomas' Hospital information sign
</gallery>
{{wide image|St Thomas Hospital 1931 appeal.jpg|750px|An appeal for funds made in 1931}}

== See also ==
* [[Healthcare in London]]
* [[List of hospitals in England]]
* [[King's Health Partners]]
* [[Francis Crick Institute]]
* [[Florence Nightingale Museum]]
* [[Lucy M. Hall]] (1843–1907), physician, writer; first woman ever received at its bedside clinics

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* [[Florence Nightingale|Nightingale, Florence]] & Anon., Una and Her Paupers, Diggory Press. {{ISBN|978-1-905363-22-3}}.
* {{cite book |first = Berry |last = Ritchie |title = The Good Builder: The John Laing Story |publisher = James & James |year = 1997 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|St Thomas' Hospital}}
* [http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/Home.aspx Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation Trust] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112215120/https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/home.aspx |date=12 November 2008 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000907/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42366842/Teebeeland/KGV/St_Thomas.html History of St. Thomas' annexe in Godalming Surrey]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070705045610/http://www.haroldridley.com/Ridley_chapter.pdf Excerpts from Sir Harold Ridley's biography by David J Apple with some history of the modern hospital]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051108222940/http://www.seabal.co.uk/dreadnought.htm Dreadnought Unit information provided by the Seamen's Hospital Society's funded Seafarers' Benefits Advice Line]
* [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.122/The-Dreadnought-Seamens-hospital.html History of the Dreadnought Seamen's hospital]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47050 Survey of London entry (1951)]

{{Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust}}
{{King's College London}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas' Hospital (London)}}
[[Category:English medieval hospitals and almshouses]]
[[Category:Health in the London Borough of Lambeth]]
[[Category:History of the London Borough of Lambeth]]
[[Category:GKT School of Medical Education]]
[[Category:NHS hospitals in London]]
[[Category:Christian hospitals]]
[[Category:Nursing schools in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Teaching hospitals in London]]
[[Category:Hospitals established in the 12th century]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures on the River Thames]]
[[Category:12th-century establishments in England]]
[[Category:Voluntary hospitals]]
[[Category:Physicians of St Thomas' Hospital]]