Early history grounds King's was originally opened in 1840 in the disused
St Clement Danes workhouse in Portugal Street close to
Lincoln's Inn Fields and
King's College London itself. It was used as a training facility where medical students of
King's College could practice and receive instruction from the college's own professors. The surrounding area there was composed of
overcrowded slums characterised by poverty and disease. Within two years of opening, the hospital was treating 1,290 inpatients in 120 beds, with two patients sharing a bed by no means unusual. The main contractor for the new hospital was
Lucas Brothers. It was one of the first hospitals to start nurse training, in 1856. Pioneer of aseptic surgery
Joseph Lister performed the first major elective surgery under strict antiseptic conditions in 1877. He helped propel the hospital to have a surgical unit comparable with the best in Europe. In the first years of the 20th century, demographic changes saw a decrease in the number of patients requiring treatment in the centre of London, and an increase of patients from further afield – notably
Camberwell,
Peckham and
Brixton which were then suburbs on the outskirts of London. Following an
act of Parliament, the '''''' (
4 Edw. 7. c. ccix), a foundation stone was laid for the new hospital, designed by William Pite, in 1909 at its present site at
Denmark Hill, south of the
River Thames. The move to Denmark Hill provided the hospital with a greenfield-site nearer to its patients. The new hospital opened in 1913. The outpatients' department was decorated with nursery rhyme
tiles. Pre-clinical training of medical students remained the responsibility of
King's College London, whilst advanced medical training took place at the hospital under the auspices of a newly formed King's College Hospital Medical School. During the
First World War, a large part of the hospital was requisitioned by the
War Office to create the 4th London General Hospital, a facility for the
Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.
Modern history Following the creation of the
National Health Service in 1948, the hospital was granted Teaching Hospital status. In 1974 the NHS re-organisation saw King's become the centre for all health services management in its
catchment area. The hospital's medical school was reunited with King's College in 1983 to form
King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry. A purpose-built medical education centre, the Weston Education Centre, was built in 1997 and contains a medical library as well as hosting conferences, symposia, and professional training events as well as containing public access computer rooms for students. In 1998 King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry merged with the United Medical and Dental Schools (UMDS) of
Guy's and
St Thomas's Hospitals to form Guy's, King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine, commonly abbreviated to "GKT". The Golden Jubilee wing, intended to host a number of outpatient clinics as well as therapy suites for speech and language,
occupational therapy and
physiotherapy, was procured under a
Private Finance Initiative contract in 2000. The works, which were carried by a joint venture of
Costain and
Skanska at a cost of £50 million, were completed in 2002. The Trust took over the management of
Princess Royal University Hospital in October 2013 after the dissolution of the
South London Healthcare NHS Trust. Over Christmas 2013, 8 patients there waited on trolleys for more than 12 hours for admission, the largest number of trolley waits in England. ==Facilities==