Public Exhibition Tells the Story of Ealing Hospital
Displays include its cottage hospital origins in to the seventies construction
Ealing Hospital just after opening and its first patient Eva Cook
January 30, 2025
A free exhibition about the history of Ealing Hospital and its predecessors is now on show at the hospital.
The public exhibition starts with ‘cottage’ hospitals that treated local people before the creation of the NHS along with significant events that have shaped local healthcare.
Cottage hospitals provided healthcare for people living in Ealing before the NHS.
The first in the area was Ealing Cottage Hospital which opened in 1871 at Minton Lodge. The three-bed hospital and dispensary was housed in a converted villa and staffed by two doctors, a matron, nurse and cook.
The building of the new hospital was beset by problems that infuriated residents and politicians alike against a backdrop of inflation and strikes during the 1970s.
A politician at the time called it ‘one of the most fantastic disgraces in the history of the NHS’ during a heated parliamentary debate in 1977.
The Government had ambitiously promised the new hospital by 1974 but it would not open for a further five years and was £4million over budget.
Its first patient was Eva Cook on Feb 24, 1979, and the 82-year-old’s first bedside visitors were an ITV news crew.
“I didn’t get much sleep that night because I was so excited to be on TV.”
Ealing Cottage Hospital opened in 1871 at Minton Lodge
Dr Michael Rudolf was one of the first consultants employed at the hospital and went on to become its medical director.
The now retired consultant said, “The first few days were a bit surreal. The hospital was empty, you had no problem with parking spaces and A&E only admitted between 10 and 20 patients a day. That did not last long!
“Clinical staff were far more involved in running the hospital back then. There was less bureaucracy and red tape, and no performance targets beyond doing the best for our patients.
“I had a wonderful career and count myself lucky that I spend most of it in Ealing.”
The exhibition, which is funded by LNWH Charity, is on show in the hospital’s Galleria area on Floor Three. Access is via the stairs opposite WHSmith’s in the main reception.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |