The development of the London hospital system, 1823-1982

E-books

423 p. : ill., maps

Besides tracing the development of the system since the year which saw the foundation of "The Lancet", this book considers major influences on the hospitals, such as specialisation, medical education, developments in nursing, and the frequent financial crises they had to deal with. Because some owed their existence to charity and others to the poor law, the hospitals were more remarkable for their individuality than a common sense of purpose. The absence of a central organisation attracted the attention of Victorian reformers, whose criticisms and the solutions they proposed have a familiar ring to them today. This is the story of the way ideas developed that came to influence the shape of the health service in London, and of bodies like the King's Fund and the London County Council who tried to bring order out of chaos. Institutional opposition to change was strong and the way the capital itself has developed has compounded the problems of its hospitals. "Had we taken more note of past lessons," writes the author, "our present situation might have been different."