A brief history of Whipps Cross Hospital

by Alan Simpson

In 1948, Whipps Cross came under the management of the new National Health Service (NHS) and was administered by the Forest Group Hospital Management Committee. One facility on the site that disappeared almost immediately was the pond beside Forest House, which had been used for swimming until 1949 when a nurse drowned in it. Investigation showed that the lake was badly contaminated, so it was drained and filled in. Following alterations in 1948 and 1949, Wards C5 and C6 became tuberculosis wards.

In 1951, the former Wilfred Lawson Temperance Hotel in Woodford Green was purchased as additional accommodation for 50 nurses and also used as the training school for student nurses. This opened in October 1951 and here students were introduced to the elements of nursing and subjects such as anatomy before starting work on the wards at Whipps Cross. In 1955, the weekly cost of an in-patient’s care was £19 4s 0d. By November 1955, the hospital had 974 general medical and surgical beds. Additional specialist units were added, along with more capacity and, in March 1958, a new out-patients department opened, which included modernised facilities. The out-patient facilities expanded over subsequent years to include orthodontics (1960) and child psychiatry (1961). It was around this time too that Essex County Council purchased three-quarters of an acre of land adjacent to James Lane in order to build a modern ambulance station.

Since the transfer to West Ham Borough Council in 1930, Forest House had become a home for elderly people. By the late 1950s, the house and its stable buildings were still home to a large number of men, not bed patients, but suffering from various afflictions. They were looked after by a matron and staff. Eventually, Forest House was closed and replaced in 1962 by a new building in the grounds, Samuel Boyce Lodge. Despite being a listed building 14, the once fine mansion was demolished in 1964. The site of the house and its pond were left as open ground and are now used as a car park. The Woodbury Unit, a 36-bed psychogeriatric facility occupies the former grounds of Forest House.

In 1965, the teaching of nurses from other hospitals in the Forest Group was consolidated at a new nursing education unit at Whipps Cross. In 1968, an intensive care unit was established at the hospital. A new accident and emergency (A&E) unit was opened at Whipps Cross in 1972, and a new maternity unit opened the following year on the south-west corner of the hospital site.

In 1974, following a major reorganisation of the NHS, the hospital came under the control of West Roding District Health Authority, part of Redbridge and Waltham Forest Area Health Authority and of North East Thames Regional Health Authority. The hospital had 862 beds at this time, increasing to 960 by 1976. In 1977, Connaught Day Hospital for the elderly opened.

In 1982, after another major reorganisation of the NHS, the hospital came under the administration of Waltham Forest District Health Authority. In 1987, the Margaret Centre opened to provide palliative care for patients with life-limiting illnesses.

14   See Appendix B

Leyton & Leytonstone

Historical Society