fosney wrote:St Olave's Hospital - Lower Road
I am sure many of us remember St Olave's Hospital either as a visitor or patient. Built in 1870 it served the community for over 100 years.
Constructed on ground adjacent to the Workhouse, which had been established since 1729. In 1885 St Olave's was known as the Infirmary of St Olave's Union.
In 1920 it was known as Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Hospital and on 1st April 1930 the hospital was transferred to Bermondsey Board of Guardians under the administration of the London County Council and renamed St Olave's Hospital.
When the National Health Service came in it was taken over by the South East Metropolitan Hospital Board and in 1966 became part of Guys Hospital Training Group.
St Olave's Hospital started to be restricted to patients in 1970 and finally closed in 1984.
Today, all that remains is the left hand Entrance Lodge with a blue plaque celebrating the birth of one of South London's great actors, Sir Michael Caine in 1933. The rest has been replaced by a modern housing development.
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I was rushed into there about 2am with acute appendicitis and operated on virtually immediately. This was 1958. I seem to remember in the 60's, they were reducing admissions but wanted to introduce a drug rehabilitation unit for London addicts. This caused some uproar and locals started to demonstrate including mothers who asked to get their babies and young children registered as addicts. They were told to go away as their children were obviously not addicts to which the mothers replied that by the time they were teens they probably would be. Outside the hospital was a zebra crossing and one of the local coppers quietly informed them that if they were standing still, they were causing an obstruction but, if they kept moving they were ok. So there was a continuous stream of parents and prams going back and forth on the crossing. As you can imagine it didn't take long for a colossal traffic jam to ensure. At one point Baroness Sarota , who was supposed to advising on this scheme, came down to see what all the fuss was about. Demonstrators started to rock her car so much it was in danger of turning over with her in it, at which point the police intervened. She made one of the most idiotic remarks I've ever heard when she said "I didn't realise the local people felt so strongly about the hospital". Needless to say, it was to no avail as the hospital finally went. Nothing appears to change even today, in that the views of the people tend to be largely ignored.