Editors: ALAN MONCRIEFF, M.D..
Centenary of "Great Ormond Street"
The first patient was admitted to The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London in 1852. Notice the capital "T." It has been said that all who have ever worked at this hospital are touched thereafter with a certain arrogance and hence the "T." It is believed that this was the first children's hospital in Great Britain to provide both for outpatients and inpatients. Up to 1852 there had been "dispensaries" for sick children, but the fear of infection and the devastating results when young children were herded together had prevented any development of inpatient facilities. The general hospitals excluded children. They died at home in large numbers. All this was changed by Dr. Charles West. He was an obstetrician on the staff of the Middlesex Hospital where he gave the lectures on diseases of children to the studentsa common practice in those days.