View report page

33
Proposed Closure of St. Luke's Hospital, Chelsea
In June, 1961, it was learned that agreement had been reached between
the Ministry of Health and the South-West Metropolitan Regional
Hospital Board concerning the provision of a new post-graduate Medical
School in Central London. The scheme will involve the re-organisation
and possible re-building of a number of hospitals in the Brompton Road
area and the concentration of post-graduate work from 16 centres in
the metropolis.
Among the changes which would be brought about is the closure of
St. Luke's Hospital, Chelsea, which has accommodation for 264 chronic
sick patients; also affected would be the Royal Marsden Hospital, the
Brompton Hospital, the Chelsea Hospital for Women, and various other
hospitals in central London.
It was understood that the Ministry had given a categorical assurance
that, in order that hospital facilities for the seriously ill and chronically
sick would not be diminished in West London, the hospital board's
proposals for further development would be sympathetically considered.
Opposition to the plans was expressed by the Chelsea and Kensington
Hospital Management Committee, the Group Medical Advisory Committee
representing the doctors, and the various borough councils concerned.
They were particularly disturbed by the proposal to empty St. Luke's
Hospital, (the only one for chronic sick in the area) and felt that no
patients should be transferred from St. Luke's Hospital until a proper
alternative had been provided.
St. Luke's Hospital accepts chronic sick patients from the postal areas
S.W.I., S.W.3., S.W.5., S.W.7. and S.W.10., which comprise parts of the
boroughs of Chelsea, Fulham, Kensington and Westminster. In addition,
the hospital receives all the chronic sick cases from St. Mary Abbots
Hospital, Princess Beatrice Hospital and St. Stephen's Hospital, irrespective
of where they live; so that, in fact, St. Luke's accommodates chronic
sick patients from a very wide area of West London.
I am pleased to record that the closest possible co-operation exists
between the geriatricians at St. Luke's Hospital and the Westminster
Public Health Department. This has often made it possible, at very
short notice, to secure the admission of a chronic sick patient living in
the southern portion of the City, while the admission of chronic sick
patients from other portions of Westminster to hospitals in another
Hospital Management Committee area, is usually much more difficult.
This facility will be lost if St. Luke's Hospital is closed without alternative
accommodation first being made available for the reception of
such cases from Westminster.
The City Council therefore decided to ask the Minister of Health to
provide details of his plans for the future reception of chronic sick
patients from Westminster.