In the late 19th century, the poorest in society were subject to a now much criticised system known as the Poor Law. The effect of this law meant that the poor were scrubbed off the streets into workhouses; the intentions being to provide education, shelter and structure in return for hours of gruelling industrial labour for no or little pay. Within our popular culture, the imagery provided by Charles Dickens has shaped our views of the Poor Law institutions – the workhouses being dens for greedy, old men and starving innocent children. The reality, no doubt, was much more complex than this. True, for some homelessness was a better and safer option that the workhouse. For others it was a community that they could belong to, albeit despised and marginalised by the rest of society. A feature of workhouses not explored within the public’s mind is that of the healthcare provided. As with the rest of the Poor Law ideology, the poor should be productive but not seen. For them to work they would need a minimal level of healthcare. At first this was provided in the workhouses themselves. However, as an understanding of hygiene was gradually developing, it was decided that separate institutes would need to be established to stop the spread of disease and infections - henceforth the establishment of Poor Law Infirmaries.

 

            On the cosy edge of Epping Forest, at that ever changing border between Essex and North East London currently sits Whipps Cross Hospital. This grand institute boasts many successes over the years, many big and small and too many to list here, but one would not know from looking at it that it too was born into this background.  The West Ham Infirmary, later renamed Whipps Cross, was set up in the 1890s by the West Ham Board of Guardians (West Ham then being a borough of London).  These were the stewards of the Poor Law system; a forty-member collective of volunteers made up of representations from the local council, church and general philanthropists. Their intentions on the surface were noble. They met regularly and discussed the management of these institutes, including the acquirement of a property previously known as Forest House Estate, sheltered by the green of the then wilder Epping Forest. This private estate consisted of a house and annex which could be sufficiently built upon to provide a service to those suffering maladies at the nearby workhouse. One such workhouse in Walthamstow, which now houses Vestry House Museum, demonstrates the workhouse ideology well with its engraving 'if any would not work neither should he eat'.

 

The poor flocked in to be cared for in an under-funded and under-staffed hospital (ring any bells?). Those that worked in these hospitals were seen as less than those of the hospitals for the rich. To put it simply - they got their hands dirty. These brave heroes are not the kind memorialised in our local parks or train stations; yet it is they who took the risk to care society’s rejects and planted an idea which would later blossom into the NHS.

 

 As the infirmary expanded more patients from all kinds of economic backgrounds were taken in and it became a training school for young nurses. War, as is so often the case, would sweep it’s chaos over the expected trajectory of this infirmary, though not as early as one would suspect. In 1915, a series of bloody losses for an underprepared British army at the Western Front caused thousands to be sent back to England in often horrifyingly scarred shape. This led to the Guardians to offer its services to the War Office. For reasons unknown, their offer was refused. Perhaps the reputation as a Poor Law hospital had put off the government. Whatever the case, it was not until 1917, after even more drastic losses at the various battles of Passchendaele called for more ‘war hospitals’.

 

So it was that sections of the hospital were set aside for the war wounded. Can the average Londoner imagine the wards of their local hospital suddenly emptied and filled with soldiers from across the globe?  In 1915, doctors in the infirmary had complained that the wards were overcrowded enough with sick children, let alone adding more shrapnel filled bodies to the mix. The hospital quickly earned a reputation with the British Army for its ‘quick turnover’ - an indicator of the trials suffered by those soldiers sent back to fight after having only barely recovered from their previous injuries. The war office was also impressed by the hospital's "modern equipment."

 

The local authority did not feel it was justifiable to spend taxpayer's money on ‘recreation and comforts’ for the wounded soldiers. A local campaign to build a ‘Welcome Hut’ with billiards and games for the soldiers had great success. Charity football matches, fêtes, brass band performances all contributed to helping the wounded, most of whom were not local – many were Canadian and Australian.

 

Much excitement ensued in 1917 when the hospital had a visit from King George V and Queen Mary in order to honour the hard work of the nurses during the war. The Royal Couple drove to the site in an open topped vehicle and local children climbed trees and lined the streets along which the couple progressed in order to try to get a sight of the King and Queen. They were greeted by special guards and a rendition of Caller Herrin from one of the nurses before being shown around the hospital; the Queen handed out nursing certificates and flowers whilst the King bestowed war medals on the injured soldiers. The King expressed his particular gratitude to a female ambulance driver. Hilarity ensued when Harold McDermott, aged 8, leapt from his bed in the children's ward dressed only in his night shirt and evaded Royal Security to speak to the Royal couple, who stopped to speak to him and singled out "little" Harold McDermott when they sent Christmas presents to the children of the hospital later that year. 

 

After the war Whipps Cross went through a long period of development, becoming an approved nurse training and examination centre and in the same period appointing specialists in dermatology, ophthalmology, ear nose and throat and genito-urinary medicine. Following the Local Government Act of 1929, management of Whipps Cross passed from the Board of Guardians to the Public Assistance Committee of West Ham Borough Council. It later came under the management of the NHS (National Health Service) in 1948.

 

Whipps Cross added an outpatient department in 1958 and ten years later an intensive care unit opened followed by an accident and emergency and maternity unit. Connaught Day Hospital for the elderly was opened in the 1970’s.
 

In 1992 Whipps Cross became a University Hospital, and is now a part of Barts Health NHS Trust. Is it is known for being the first hospital to open an intensive care unit and for many years had one of the busiest accident and emergency departments.

 

Into the new millennium the hospital faced serious financial crisis but was saved from a severe reduction in nursing staff by opposition from the public.

 

The hospital was modernised in time for the 2012 Olympic and Para Olympic Games, and nurses from the hospital took part in the memorable opening scene featuring the Mary Poppins character.
 

The future of the hospital is now in question as debate over the best way to offer care to those in need suggests that some services should be taken from hospitals and offered instead by GP’s.
 

Public opposition has ensured Whipps Cross maintains its current facilities but the problem of how to provide health care in the future continues.