Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is a public hospital located on Fulham Road, in the South Kensington area of London, England.

History

The new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital was opened on the site once occupied by St Stephen's Hospital, and brought together staff, services and equipment from five London hospitals:

• the Westminster hospital in Horseferry Road (previously situated opposite Westminster Abbey) and its medical school in Page Street
• Westminster Children's hospital , originally in Vincent Square, then later amalgamated with the Westminster
• West London hospital, opened in 1860 and known from the early 1970s for its maternity services
• St Mary Abbots hospital, an infirmary occupying the site of what had been the Kensington work house
• St Stephen's hospital

The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital was designed by the architects Sheppard Robson. The hospital displays many treasures from the old hospitals. Some of these are in the first floor Hospital Chapel, including an 16th century painting by Veronese from the Westminster Hospital and stained glass windows from Westminster , St Mary Abbots and the Westminster Children's Hospitals.^[1]

Services

Hand Surgery

Hand Trauma

The hospital provides a number of services which include a specialist hand surgery/management unit sometimes known as HMU.

Access to these services is often made via GP referral. However, various A&E departments such as those at Charing Cross, St Marys and St Charles Hospital can make urgent tertiary referrals by contacting the Plastic surgery SHO on-call at Chelsea and Westminster through the telephone switchboard.

Patients are then given a copy of their A&E notes as well as any x-rays. These can then be used by the medical staff in the Hand Trauma clinic at Chelsea and Westminster. These outpatient clinics are currently operated by Mr Bantick and Mr Eckersley's medical teamshttp://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:xx3vcii7P_gJ:www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/doc_viewer.cgi%3Ftype%3Dhrd%26vac_ref%3D911715045+giles+bantick+mr+eckersley&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1.

This system, which is based on urgently referred patients from A&E being handed a relevant portion of their medical notes, may change with the impending implementation of the Electronic medical record.

HIV / GUM

The hospital?s HIV / GUM Clinical Directorate was established in April, 1991 http://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/services/, and is today the largest specialist HIV unit in Europe ^[2][3], caring for more than 5,000 ^[4] HIV patients, and enjoys a worldwide reputation as a centre of excellence in both the care of HIV-positive patients and a wide range of associated clinical research. Its director, Professor Brian Gazzard ^{[5] [6]}, is one of the world's leading authorities on HIV, founded the British HIV Association, serves as Chairman of the British HIV Guidelines Writing Committee, and is a member of both the Scientific Committee of the World AIDS Congress and of the IAS USA Guidelines Committee.

The St Stephen?s Centre at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital is also home to the core laboratory of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). ^[7]

Education

In 1984, Westminster Hospital Medical School merged with their rivals Charing Cross Hospital Medical School to form Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. This was part of a series of mergers of London medical schools in the early 1980s, foreshadowing a larger series in the late 1990s, which brought all the institutes together into five large schools. In 1997, as part of the second wave, CXWMS merged with Imperial College, London (and its medical department, St Mary's Hospital Medical School), the National Heart and Lung Institute, and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, to form Imperial College School of Medicine

Chelsea & Westminster Hospital maintains strong ties with Imperial College School of Medicine as numerous students undergo clinical attachments in specialties such as gastrointestinal surgery, cardiology and obstetrics & gynaecology, to name a few.

References

1. ↑
2. ↑ ''Chelsea and Westminister HIV Cohort'' (PDF format)
3. ↑ ''Unique partnership brings new hope for vaccine to combat HIV''
4. ↑ ''Why choose our HIV services?''
5. ↑ ''Interview with the Professor''
6. ↑ ''Information about HIV and sexual health''
7. ↑ ''New partnership to accelerate AIDS vaccine testing, equip developing countries for trials''

External links

• Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
• Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity - owner and curator of the visual art, installation art and sculpture displayed at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
• NHS Care Records Service
• Cranio-Orbito-Palpebral service, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
• International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)
• St Stephen's AIDS Trust Clinical Trials Unit
• You Choose - Chelsea & Westminster HIV information site for gay men

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