Founded during the First World War, Harefield Hospital marked its centenary in 2015 with a series of special events and exhibitions.
During the past 100 years, Harefield Hospital has treated injured Australian soldiers, been an isolation hospital for tuberculosis and become a world-renowned centre for heart and lung disease. The centenary offered an opportunity to look back and celebrate the hospital’s unique history and achievements.
The hospital was established in 1915 in Harefield Park, north west London, an estate owned by the Billiard-Leake family. They offered it as a hospital to the Ministry of Defence of New South Wales to treat soldiers from Australia who had been injured at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
The wounded soldiers who died while at Harefield are buried in the nearby Anzac cemetery in St Mary’s Church. They are remembered in a service held each year on Anzac Day (25 April).
After the First World War, the estate was sold to the local council and was developed as an isolation hospital for patients with tuberculosis; this laid the foundations for the future of Harefield Hospital as a world-renowned centre for the treatment of lung and respiratory conditions.
After becoming part of the NHS in 1948, Harefield first became a general hospital and then a specialist heart and lung centre.
Groundbreaking work led by Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub in the latter part of the 20th century included the hospital’s first successful heart transplant in 1980, followed by the UK’s first combined heart and lung transplant in 1983. This led to Harefield Hospital establishing the largest transplant programme of its kind anywhere in the world.
In 1998, Harefield Hospital merged with Royal Brompton Hospital, Chelsea, to become Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust. In 2009 it became a foundation trust, and the organisation is now referred to as Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust.
The Trust is now one of the leading specialist heart and lung hospitals, and one of the largest transplant centres, in the world.
Centenary celebrations
Harefield’s links with Australia were commemorated during the centenary year with a reception at Australia House attended by 200 guests. A public exhibition, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, featured the memories of former Harefield patients, staff, supporters of the hospital and the local community, along with photos and artefacts. Events included an audience with Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, a research open day, a fundraising champagne picnic, a midsummer masked ball and a fun day.
Our very first transplant was on a Saturday morning
Retired nurse Pam Baldock (above) worked at Harefield for 30 years from 1973 until she retired in 2003 and played an important role as the hospital developed into the largest specialist heart and lung centre in the UK. She started as a homograft technician, working with Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, the soon-to-be pioneer of heart and lung transplant surgery, where her main role was to receive and dissect heart valves from mortuaries.
Pam was soon promoted to transplant coordinator and went on to assist in the hospital’s first transplant:
“Our very first transplant was on a Saturday morning and I was just about to go out shopping when the phone rang,” says Pam. “Dr Yacoub came on the phone and said very quietly: ‘Pam, we have an organ donor, I’d like you to organise a transplant for me’.”
The surgery was extremely successful, so much so that surgeons from all across Europe and further abroad began travelling to the hospital to learn about cardiothoracic surgery from Professor Yacoub and his team.
“It was a fascinating job,” says Pam. “I feel very proud to have been part of transplantation history.”
Harefield Hospital breakthroughs
1947 World's first valvotomy (enlarging narrowed heart valves)
1976 First corrective or 'switch' operation for children, where the aorta and pulmonary artery are on the wrong side of the heart.
1980 One of the first successful heart transplants in the UK is performed at Harefield Hospital.
1983 World's first combined heart and lung transplant is performed at Harefield Hospital.
1992 Heart Science Centre opens, dedicated to research into heart disease. It now houses the Magdi Yacoub Institute.
1995 Artificial left-ventricular assist devices (LVADs or "artificial hearts") programme begins.
2004 Dedicated heart attack centre opens. Staff at Harefield treat heart attack emergencies from outer north west London and provide primary angioplasty in specialist catheter laboratories. The arrival-to-treatment time of 26 minutes is one of the fastest in Europe; the speed of treatment has been shown to be crucial to survival.
2012 Harefield becomes one the first hospitals to us the organ care system (OCS), which enables a human heart to beat outside the body. This helps to ensure that the heart remains in the best possible condition before transplant surgery.
2014 New clinical trial begins to assess gene therapy for patients with heart pumps and provide detailed insight on its impact on the heart muscle. A Harefield Hospital patient is the first in the UK with an LVAD to take part in the trial.
2014 First UK patient receives revolutionary C-Pulse device to treat heart failure.