2007 Birthday Project ~ GOSH . . . Did You Know?

[Theresa]

Did you know?

Patron: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Chairman: Sir Cyril Chantler

Chief Executive: Dr Jane Collins

History
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) was the first children’s hospital in the English-speaking world. It was founded by Dr Charles West and first opened its doors on 14 February 1852. Much has changed in medicine since then but GOSH continues to be committed to delivering the best and most up-to-date treatment now and in the future.

Specialties
Great Ormond Street Hospital offers the widest range of paediatric specialties in the UK, including 21 medical, eleven surgical and eight diagnostic specialties. Additionally there are eight paramedical and other clinical support services including pharmacy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, psychology and dietetics.

Research and Education
Working in close partnership with the UCL Institute of Child Health and South Bank University, Great Ormond Street Hospital is the largest paediatric research and training centre in the UK. All areas of the hospital take part in research, including a particular focus on research by nurses and professionals allied to medicine.

Research support income (Culyer) to the Trust from the Department of Health is £33m. In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, The Institute of Child Health achieved the highest rating of 5*.

Clinical Services
Total number of available beds: 353
Number of wards: 41
Number of operating theatres: 9
Number of operations per year: 13,172
Finished consultant episodes: 26,018
Number of intensive care beds: 34
Number of outreach clinic sites: 149

Note: GOSH took responsibility for managing paediatric services at North Middlesex University Hospital on 1 April 2005. Above figures refer only to 2004- 2005 and therefore exclude beds, wards, patients and activity based at NMUH.

Patients
GOSH saw a total of 103,329 patients last year of which 91,400 were daycases and outpatients. GOSH is committed to providing specialised care to children including those who cannot get the specialist treatment they require in their local area. That is why 50% of patients last year were from outside the London area, including 26% from the eastern region (England), 15% from the south-east and 1.6% from overseas.

Ethnicity
Some 38% of our patients come from non-white ethnic groups, mainly North African, Middle Eastern and Indian. GOSH prides itself on providing families and children with excellent patient support and information, which is why last year we held 3,600 interpreting sessions. Core patient information documents are produced in Arabic, Greek and Turkish, and other documents and languages can be produced on request. The most requested languages are Arabic, Turkish and Bengali.

Staff
The Trust employs more than 2,700 staff and also has 400 student paediatric nurses who are trained in partnership with South Bank University.

Of these employees:

- 459 are doctors;
- 1056 are nurses;
- 166 are employed in a scientific or professional capacity such as clinical scientists, psychologists, speech and language therapists, pharmacists and orthoptists;
- 127 are healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, dieticians, occupational therapists and radiographers; and
- 128 are senior managers/directors.
- GOSH also has more than 100 volunteers who give up their time to offer free support to the hospital.

Families
The hospital offers a wide range of services for families including:

- accommodation for one parent to stay in the hospital (1,000 parents stay every week), plus support services;
- 30 short-stay family rooms and eight transitional flats in the Paul O’Gorman Patient Hotel (Weston House) which opened in 2004. On average, 145 people (families and patients) stay in the hotel a week;
- an activity centre for patients and their siblings with 40 hospital play specialists working both in the centre and on the wards;
- a patient advice and liaison service (Pals) offering access to health information and support;
- websites for children, www.childrenfirst.nhs.uk, and families, www.goshfamilies.nhs.uk;
- a hospital school;
- help with transport, parking, accommodation and entertainment;
- a chapel and quiet room for families of all faiths;
- counselling and bereavement services;
- translation/interpretation services; and
- a social work department jointly funded with the London Borough of Camden.

[Moonlight]

Thank you theresa.
It sounds like it is a really nice hospital!

[San]

There was a lot that I didn't know. Thanks Theresa

[nickidepphead]

It's just a shame we apparently can't afford to pay more nurses - on the one hand there aren't enough, but on the other hand there are too many and we can't afford to pay them........ Go figure

[Texas Gal]

Thanks for the info Theresa. All very interesting. I'm glad to know more about our Birthday project choice.