A brief history of Whipps Cross Hospital

by Alan Simpson

At the presentation of prizes, Mr. A. Lewis Evans, chairman of the West Ham Board of Guardians, presided, and Mrs. Evans presented Sgt. Rimmer, R.E., with the D.C.M. and the Military Medal, which he had won by his gallantry.

Another event held that year to raise funds for the recreation hut was a football match at the ground of Leytonstone Football Club immediately south of Leytonstone High Road station. The match was kicked off by a young girl, and film footage of the event is available on the British Pathé website 13.

The year 1919 saw the end of the hospital as a specialist war hospital. This was a cause of concern for the disabled veterans in the area, who now had no hospital assigned for the continuing treatment of their war wounds.

The First World War led to a subtle change in status for Forest House and the infirmary as they subsequently became known simply as Whipps Cross Hospital. The importance of this change of name was probably not so much due to their contribution to the war effort, but because of the impact the war had on those institutions themselves. The war changed the perception of Whipps Cross from a much-despised Poor Law institution to the general hospital we know today, it being noted at the time that 'the public are coming to regard this more as a general hospital', but adding 'you cannot get over the inbred hatred of a poor law infirmary'.

In 1919, three-year training programmes for nurses at Whipps Cross were extended to four years and, in 1921, the Central Nursing Council approved the hospital as a nurse training school and examination centre for state registration. By 1924, there were 53 trained and 130 student nurses at Whipps Cross. A training school for male nurses was also established. The 1920s were also a period of increasing specialisation and it was during this time that the hospital’s first four consultants were appointed, in dermatology; ophthalmology; otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat); and genito-urinary medicine.

At the same time, management of the hospital passed through various hands – from the founding Guardians, to three Commissioners, back to the Guardians, to the Public Assistance Committee of West Ham Borough Council (following the Local Government Act of 1929) and then to West Ham’s Health Committee. By 1936, the hospital had 741 acute medical and surgical beds.

A major extension comprising four new blocks to the east of the original infirmary was planned. The new buildings were designed by W Lionel Jenkins, and construction began in 1938. When the extension opened in July 1940, it included more wards, a receiving block, an isolation block, an operating theatre and a doctor’s residence. During the Second World War, 388 of the hospital’s beds were reserved for civilian air-raid casualties.

13  http://www.britishpathe.com/video/grand-military-fete-in-aid-of-whipps-cross-hospita/query/whipps+cross.

Leyton & Leytonstone

Historical Society