Northwick Park Hospital

The hospital was commissioned by the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board in the late 1960s, designed by the British architect John Weeks and built by Trollope & Colls.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=074-btrl&cid=0#0 |title=Trollope & Colls|publisher= National Archives|access-date=27 July 2019}} The design of the hospital was largely inspired by British obsolescence studies, in which a loose-jointed medical complex was created with flexibility to withstand obsolescence's unpredictable effects.{{Cite journal|last=Abramson|first=Daniel|year=2012|title=From Obsolescence to Sustainability, Back Again, and Beyond|journal=Design and Culture|volume=4|issue=3|pages=279–298}} With only a fixed internal street system, the architects referred to the hospital as "an indeterminate architecture" with "no final plan" – free to grow and change over time.{{Cite journal|last=Weeks|first=J.|year=1999|title=Changing Spaces|journal=HD: The Journal for Healthcare Design & Development|volume=30|pages=15–16}} It was opened by the Queen on 10 October 1970.{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2010-06-22/debates/10062242000002/NorthwickParkHospital|title=Northwick Park Hospital|publisher=Hansard|date=22 June 2010|access-date=19 May 2018}} It takes its name from Northwick Park, which lies besides the hospital.{{cite web|url=http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=BRE020|title=Northwick Park|website=www.londongardensonline.org.uk|access-date=8 June 2019}}

In 1994, St Mark's Hospital, previously located 10 miles away in central London, moved into a wing of the hospital formerly occupied by the Medical Research Council.{{cite web|url=https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/stmarks.html|title=St. Mark's Hospital|publisher=Lost hospitals of London|access-date=19 May 2018}}

In 1997, the hospital returned the worst figures for operations cancelled in the UK. The closure of Edgware General Hospital earlier that year was cited by some as a reason.{{Cite web |title=That was 1997, that was |url=https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/6518586.that-was-1997-that-was/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=News Shopper |language=en}}

In 2005, the hospital's maternity department was named as having one of the highest death rates in the United Kingdom.{{cite web | url=http://www.chimat.org.uk/resource/item.aspx?RID=43157 | title=Saving Mothers Lives 2003–2005 – Report on confidential enquiries into maternal deaths in the United Kingdom | publisher=ChiMat | access-date=22 November 2014}} During the period April 2002 to March 2004, the maternal death rate for the maternity unit was 74.2 per 100,000, 6.5 times the national average of 11.4 per 100,000, as reported by Cemach (Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health). A range of "special measures" designed to improve maternity services and public confidence in the services was agreed with the Trust and these were all complied with within a year, but as of 2016 the Trust's maternity and gynaecology services were rated as "requires improvement" by the Care Quality Commission.{{cite web | url=http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/R1K01 | title=Northwick Park Hospital Overview and CQC Inspections | publisher=Care Quality Commission | access-date=16 August 2016}}

A 2016 Care Quality Commission report rated Northwick Park Hospital as "requires improvement" overall, with only one out of eight assessment areas attaining a better rating. The report highlighted a number of concerns found during inspection visits, including that surgical staff were not always reporting incidents, patients experienced long waits, compliance with safeguarding training was poor, examples of poor infection control practice, a poor environment on the stroke wards, and that nutrition and hydration was poorly managed. The Commission subsequently issued the Trust with a Section 29 (A) warning notice.{{cite web | url=http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/AAAE5958.pdf | title=Northwick Park Hospital Quality Report | publisher=Care Quality Commission | access-date=16 August 2016}}

The hospital provides a full range of services including paediatrics, maxillofacial, orthopaedics, neurology, cardiology, elderly care medicine and a regional rehabilitation unit for patients with additional ongoing acute medical needs.{{cite web|url=https://www.nhs.uk/Services/hospitals/Overview/DefaultView.aspx?id=104736|title=Northwick Park Hospital|publisher=NHS Choices|access-date=19 May 2018}}

St Mark's Hospital, a national centre of gastrointestinal medicine, is based at the same site, as is the British Olympic Association's Olympic Medical Institute.{{cite web|url=http://www.londononline.co.uk/profiles/120417/|title=Olympic Medical Institute|publisher=London on line|access-date=19 May 2018}}

Local charity Radio Harrow is based within the hospital and has provided a patient visiting and broadcasting service since 1971.[http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityFramework.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1161203&SubsidiaryNumber=0 "Radio Harrow listing on the Charity Commission"], Charity Commission for England and Wales

Northwick Park is one of the few hospitals in England to have a paternoster lift transport system. Despite being out of use for several years,{{cite web|url=http://www.fluxmagazine.com/paternoster-lift/|title=Genius or guillotine: would you get in a Paternoster lift?|date=24 May 2017|publisher=Flux|access-date=19 May 2018}} it was brought back into service during 2020.{{Cite web|date=2020-07-23|title=Paternoster lifts hospital's spirits|url=https://lnwh.nhs.uk/news/paternoster-lifts-hospitals-spirits-2154/|access-date=2020-12-07|website=London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust|language=en}}

Medical research has been conducted at Northwick Park Hospital since its founding.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://griffininstitute.org.uk/about-us/history/ |access-date=2022-10-28 |website=The Griffin Institute |language=en-US}} In 1994, some research programs were formalised into an independent charity, Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research (NPIMR), which now operates under the brand name of The Griffin Institute.{{Cite news |date=9 September 2012 |title=NRI entrepreneur, two others honoured in UK |work=Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/nri-entrepreneur-two-others-honoured-in-uk/articleshow/16327330.cms}} The institute, founded by Colin Green, does translational research.

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On 13 March 2006, six men in a clinical trial at the independent Parexel drug trial unit (which is not run by London North West Healthcare NHS Trust) became severely unwell following administration of theralizumab during a first-in-human clinical trial. They were transferred to the intensive therapy unit at Northwick Park. Affected patients developed multi-organ failure and required intensive medical support by the critical care team at Northwick Park, led by Dr Ganesh Suntharalingam.{{cite news |last=Dixon |first=Rob |date=17 April 2008 |title=Ryan Wilson Drug Trial Victim |publisher=Irwin Mitchell |location=Sheffield |url=http://www.irwinmitchell.com/newsandmedia/2008/april/ryan-wilson-drug-trial-victim |access-date=10 July 2013}}

• Simon Le Bon worked as a theatre porter at Northwick Park Hospital before becoming the lead singer for Duran Duran.{{cite web |title=Duran Duran |url=http://internationaltimes.it/duran-duran/ |access-date=19 May 2018 |publisher=International Times}}
• "Jeeves", the UK's first ever robot nurse, worked at the hospital for six months in 1996-1997 until it "failed" its probation period.{{Cite web |title=Robot joins union. - Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Robot+joins+union.-a061317720 |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com}}{{Cite web |title=Hospital robot "Jeeves" used for "mundane but unavoidable tasks" during 90's |url=https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/harrow/16247892.northwick-park-hospital-unearth-robot-past/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Watford Observer |language=en}}
• General Augusto Pinochet was a patient at Northwick Park Hospital in January 2000 while fighting extradition for murder and torture.{{cite news|author= Wilson, Jamie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/06/pinochet.chile |title=Pinochet in hospital check-up |work=The Guardian |date = 6 January 2000|access-date = 10 March 2021}}

Northwick Park is the setting for the Channel 4 British sitcom Green Wing.{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2010-06-22b.27.0|title=Northwick Park Hospital|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=19 May 2018}}

The hospital features in the seventh series of ITV's Prime Suspect.

The hospital interiors in the 1976 film The Omen, together with the exterior scene in which Katherine Thorn falls from a window and crashes into a parked ambulance, were filmed at Northwick Park Hospital.

In episode 6, series 1 of Fawlty Towers ("The Germans"), Sybil Fawlty a shot of the entrance of Northwick Park Hospital is used for the opening of the episode.{{cite web|url=https://findthatlocation.com/television-show/fawlty-towers/location/25|title=Fawlty Towers filming location|publisher=Find that location|access-date=19 May 2018}}

Northwick Park Hospital features in the ITV2 reality show Emergency Nurses, which started airing in June 2022.{{Cite web |title=Northwick Park Hospital staff star in upcoming ITV2 reality series |url=https://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/20200976.northwick-park-hospital-staff-star-emergency-nurses-itv2/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Harrow Times |language=en}}

• Healthcare in London
• List of hospitals in England
• Mount Vernon Hospital
• Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.lnwh.nhs.uk/ London North West Healthcare NHS Trust]
• [http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/Hospital.aspx?id=RV820 Northwick Park Hospital General Information]
• [http://www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/_db/_documents/Northwick_tagged.pdf Report of Healthcare Commission concerning maternity deaths in Northwick Park Hospital]

{{Imperial College London}}

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Category:Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Brent

Category:Health in the London Borough of Brent

Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1970

Category:NHS hospitals in London