Remember a time when we were allowed flowers in the wards?
At the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, the Farnborough Hospital joined the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and became known as the Farnborough Emergency Hospital under the control of Guy’s Hospital in London. In anticipation for air-raid casualties, a number of marquees were erected to temporarily provide extra accommodation while a dozen wooden hut wards were being built in the gardens and orchards. During this time the Hospital had around 1,200 beds, which were ready to receive casualties from Dunkirk and injured airmen during the Battle of Britain.
The new Maternity Unit opened in 1940, with 16 antenatal beds in one large ward and 50 lying-in beds. There was a small block with 4 rooms for obstetric cases and a similar Isolation Block for suspect and septic patients., which had its own Labour Ward and Sterilizing Unit. The babies were accommodated in two main general nurseries, plus there was a Premature Baby Unit with 10 cots.
In 1948 the Hospital joined the National Health Service (NHS) under the control of the Orpington and Sevenoaks Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the South East Metropolitan Regional Health Authority and was renamed Farnborough General Hospital.
Further information about Farnborough Hospital can be found here on the Lost Hospitals of London blog.
