The Royal Marsden Hospital (RM) is a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London. It is an NHS Foundation Trust, and operates facilities on two sites:
- The Chelsea site in Brompton, next to the Royal Brompton Hospital, on Fulham Road (51.4908°N 0.1729°W / 51.4908; -0.1729 (The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Chelsea site))
- The Sutton site in Belmont, close to Sutton Hospital, High Down and Downview Prisons (51.3434°N 0.1906°W / 51.3434; -0.1906 (The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton site))
History
The Royal Marsden was the first hospital in the world dedicated to the study and treatment of cancer. It was founded as the Free Cancer Hospital in 1851 by William Marsden at 1, Cannon Row, Westminster. Marsden, deeply affected by the death of his wife Elizabeth Ann from cancer, resolved to classify tumours, research the causes and find new treatments. The hospital at first consisted solely of a dispensary and the drugs prescribed were palliative and aimed at treating symptoms, but it allowed William Marsden the opportunity to study and research the disease.
The hospital quickly outgrew its original premises as it became apparent that some patients required inpatient care. It moved locations several times during the 1850s until its benefactors decided to find a permanent solution. Funds were raised to build a dedicated new building on a tract of land in Brompton along the Fulham Road. The design was by Messrs John Young & Son. The hospital was granted its Royal Charter of Incorporation by King George V in 1910 and became known as The Cancer Hospital (Free). This was subsequently changed by King Edward VIII to include the word ‘Royal’ and in 1954 the hospital was renamed The Royal Marsden Hospital in recognition of the vision and commitment of its founder.
When the National Health Service was formed, in 1948, the Royal Marsden became a post-graduate teaching hospital. In response to the need to expand to treat more patients and train more doctors, a second hospital in Sutton, London was opened in 1962.
Private patients
The trust hopes to raise 45% of its income from private patients and other non-NHS sources in 2016/7 and is trying to raise its income from paying patients from £90m to £100m. According to LaingBuisson it is the most commercially orientated NHS hospital. It increased private patient income by 13% from 2014 to 2016 to £77 million.
Sutton site history
The original buildings on the Sutton site were first used as the Banstead Road branch of the South Metropolitan District School, which was a 'district' school for children of workhouse inmates in south London. In the 1890s, girls were kept at the Banstead Road site and boys were kept at a site on Brighton Road, which was built in 1851. The Brighton Road site later became Belmont workhouse and Belmont Psychiatric hospital, before being demolished in the 1980s. The Banstead Road site later became a sanatorium, before the southern half of the site was acquired by Royal Marsden in 1962.
Performance
In 1991 the Royal Marsden became the first NHS hospital to be awarded the Queen’s Award for Technology for its work on drug development. The hospital achieved the international quality standard ISO 9001 for radiotherapy in 1996 and for chemotherapy in 2003. It was recognised as one of six centres of excellence in the Government’s NHS Plan and has achieved four national Charter Marks for all its services, the most recent awarded in 2005.
In April 2004 it became one of the first NHS Foundation Trusts.
It was named by the Health Service Journal as one of the top hundred NHS trusts to work for in 2015. At that time it had 3528 full-time equivalent staff and a sickness absence rate of 2.85%. 89% of staff recommend it as a place for treatment and 71% recommended it as a place to work.
In March 2016 the Trust was ranked third in the Learning from Mistakes League.
Fire
On Wednesday 2 January 2008, just before 1:30pm, a fire broke out in a plant room on the top floor of the hospital, which led to the evacuation of all patients and staff from the unit. The entire roof of the Chelsea Wing of the hospital was burned through, and the top floor was also affected. Five operating theatres and at least two wards were put out of action. The smoke was visible for miles around.
In addition to the evacuation of 200 staff and outpatients, 79 inpatients - 37 of them bedded - were moved to a local church and the neighbouring Royal Brompton Hospital, some being carried on hospital mattresses by a team of emergency services and doctors. Two patients were still undergoing surgery in the operating theatres in the basement and had to be evacuated. Later, full-care was resumed by RM medical staff who re-assembled on the wards of The Royal Brompton.
A hospital official said that damage was less than thought and BBC reports the day after the fire stated that out-patients would be seen on the following Monday and that research documentation had not been lost.
When the fire was at its peak, 125 firefighters and 16 ambulances were in attendance. Two members of staff suffered slight smoke inhalation but there were no other casualties or injuries. They were taken to the nearby Chelsea and Westminster Hospital A&E department.
The outpatients department and radiotherapy unit reopened on Monday 7 January. Later that week, inpatients were admitted back to The Royal Marsden from their temporary location at The Royal Brompton.
London Fire Brigade received 24 emergency calls reporting the fire. Over the period of the fire 111 fire appliances attended and 56 officers including the assistant commissioner.
Notable doctors
- Michael Baum
- Robert Knox
- Christopher Nutting
See also
- List of NHS trusts
References
External links
- Fire at Royal Marsden Hospital
- The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
- Site summary information on The Royal Marsden (Sutton) on www.nhs.uk
- Site summary information on The Royal Marsden (Fulham) on www.nhs.uk