Northwick Park Hospital

Northwick Park Hospital
The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust
Geography
Location	Harrow, London, England
Organisation
Care system	NHS England
Hospital type	District General
Affiliated university	Imperial College London
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	463[1]
History
Founded	1970
Links
Website	http://www.nwlh.nhs.uk
Lists	Hospitals in England

Northwick Park Hospital (NPH) is a large hospital in the northwest corner of the London Borough of Brent in Greater London, England.

Hospital role

NPH is primarily a National Health Service (England) (NHS) hospital, although it has some private funding units. It is part of The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust.

St. Mark's Hospital, a national centre of gastrointestinal medicine is based at the same site, as is the British Olympic Association's Olympic Medical Institute.

The hospital has its own hospital radio station, Radio Northwick Park.

Northwick Park is also one of the few hospitals in England to have a Paternoster lift transport system. This was featured in the film The Omen. The system is controlled by smart card access for staff only.

Northwick Park is also a teaching hospital for students of Imperial College School of Medicine.

Location and accessibility

A number of bus routes serve the hospital, most of them calling at dedicated bus interchange sited within the hospital grounds near the main Watford Road entrance on the west side of the site; other buses pass nearby on Kenton Road and Watford Road without entering the hospital. The nearest railway stations are Kenton, Northwick Park and Harrow on the Hill, all of which have direct bus connections. There are direct links by bus from other areas including Edgware, Wembley and Kingsbury.

Northwick Park Underground station is connected to the hospital by a footpath, and the journey takes approximately 5-10 minutes.

Car parking is plentiful in multistorey and ground-level car parks around the site. All car parks are pay & display; there are concessions for longer term visitors, patients in receipt of supplementary benefits can obtain refunds of parking fees at the hospital. There are a limited number of spaces (avoiding the need to use the barriers and ticket machines) for Blue badge holders. The car park is a cash only system and there are no cash machines inside the hospital.

The hospital's retail centre, The Square, contains a branch of Costa Coffee, a Northwick Park League of Friends Shop, a fruit and vegetable market and a hair salon. There is also a large convenience store operated by WHSmith, a dry cleaner, and several other outlets around the site operated by WHSmith, hospital volunteers or the St Mark's League of Friends.

History

The hospital was designed by the architect John Weeks and commissioned by the NW Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board in the late 1960s, and was opened by HM The Queen in 1970.

It featured in the opening credits of an episode of the comedy TV series Fawlty Towers and the 1976 horror film The Omen, and has been used as a set for both series of the Channel 4 comedy Green Wing and the seventh series of ITV's Prime Suspect.

In March 1975, the world's first body CT Scanner was installed at Northwick Park Hospital.

In 1994, the hospital merged with internationally-renowned St Mark's Hospital who moved in to a wing of the hospital formerly occupied by the Clinical Research Council. The hospital retains its research pedigree through its association with Imperial College School of Medicine and its own Northwick Park Institute of Medical Research.

In 2005, the hospital's maternity department was named as having one of the highest death rates in the United Kingdom [1]. During the period April 2002 to March 2004, the maternal death rate for the maternity unit was 74.2 per 100,000, 6.5 times the national average of 11.4 per 100,000, as reported by Cemach (Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health). A range of "special measures" designed to improve maternity services and public confidence in the services was agreed with the Trust and these were all complied with within a year.

According to Dr Foster's Hospital Guide (published on 17 November 2008) Northwick Park's mortality rates are among the best in the United Kingdom and The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages the hospital, is one of the 'most improved' NHS trusts.

Healthcare Commission report

Report into maternal deaths at Northwick Park Hospital

On 13 March 2006, six people in a drug trial at the independent Parexel drug trial unit (which is not run by The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust) became severely unwell following administration of TGN1412 and were transferred to the intensive therapy unit at Northwick Park. Affected patients developed multi-organ failure and required intensive medical support by the critical care team at Northwick Park, led by Dr Ganesh Suntharalingam. All the patients subsequently survived and the last one was discharged in June 2006.

On 11 February 2009 a fire started in the basement of the hospital in an electrical switch room, causing parts of the ward block to be evacuated for a time. No patients were harmed, and the switch room has now been replaced, with all services back to normal. The hospital was given a Health Service Journal good management award for the way in which the incident was handled.

Contact Details

Postal address:

Northwick Park Hospital

Watford Road

HARROW

HA1 3UJ

Telephone: [phone]^[2] (International [phone])

External links

• North West London Hospitals NHS Trust
• Northwick Park Hospital General Information
• Radio Northwick Park
• Report of Healthcare Commission concerning maternity deaths in Northwick Park Hospital
• BBC News - Safety plea over maternity deaths

References

1. ^ "Northwick Park Hospital - DrFosterHealth.co.uk". Dr Foster. http://www.drfosterhealth.co.uk/hospital-guide/hospital/nhs/Northwick-Park-Hospital-275.aspx. Retrieved 16 May 2011. 
2. ^ http://www.nwlh.nhs.uk/contact%20us.cfm

Coordinates: 51°34′34″N 0°19′19″W / 51.576°N 0.322°W / 51.576; -0.322