CENTRAL LONDON THROAT NOSE AND EAR HOSPITAL

Surviving records of the Hospital for the Central London Throat Nose and Ear Hospital.

The majority of the records of this hospital were apparently destroyed in the 1990s; the few which survive were transferred to the Royal Free Hospital Archive Centre in 2003.

The Central London Throat Nose and Ear Hospital was founded in 1874 by Lennox Browne, Llewellyn Thomas, Alfred Hutton, George Wallis and Ernest Turner. The hospital initially opened as a dispensary in Manchester Street (now Argyle Street), but demand for its services was such that in 1875 it moved to its current location on Gray's Inn Road. The very poor were treated free of charge; however, other patients were expected to contribute towards the cost of their treatment. The hospital was also financed by subscriptions, grants from the King's Fund, and fundraising events supported by the actors and singers who benefited from the expertise of its staff.

Referring doctors had always been encouraged to attend the hospital, and observe the operations performed on their patients, and it was perhaps inevitable that this tradition should develop into more formal postgraduate teaching. From 1885 Lennox Browne and his colleague Dundas Grant were giving lectures on otology, rhinology and laryngology to doctors and medical students (many of whom offered their services to the hospital in return for practical instruction). By the mid-1890s, a more systematic syllabus of lectures had been arranged, with Dr Wyatt Wingrave (formerly the hospital's pathologist) providing teaching in anatomy, physiology and pathology. Although Dundas Grant retired in 1913, the Central London continued to provide teaching throughout the First World War, and found space for a lecture theatre and classrooms. When the Royal College of Surgeons instituted a Diploma in Laryngology and Otology in 1919, the Central London Hospital was the only institution to provide the specialist practical instruction necessary to qualify for it, drawing students from Guys Hospital and elsewhere.

Shortly after the establishment of the General Nursing Council in 1919, the Central London Hospital became recognised as a Preliminary Training School for nurses. The School of Nursing was established in 1930, and offered 12 month courses and 6 month courses (to train as an SRN and SEN respectively).

In 1904, the King's Fund put forward a proposal to merge the five ENT hospitals in London: the Central London Throat Nose and Ear Hospital in Gray's Inn Road, the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat in Golden Square, the Royal Ear Hospital in Huntley Street, the London Throat Hospital in Portland Street, and the Metropolitan Ear Nose and Throat Hospital in Fitzroy Square. The Central London Hospital did not support the proposal, and in 1905 its grant from the King's Fund was removed. Negotiations were opened with the Royal Ear Hospital and the London Throat Hospital, but by 1913 these had broken down, and the latter had agreed to merge instead with the Golden Square Hospital. Plans for expansion had been drawn up in 1902, and the Central London Hospital decided to proceed in the hope that the increased numbers of patients which would result from larger premises would secure the future of the Gray's Inn Road site.

Eventually, in 1939, the decision was taken to amalgamate with the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat in Golden Square, with the approval of the King's Fund. The outbreak of war delayed the merger in practical terms, but a joint Committee of Management was formed immediately. The new Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital finally came into being on 1 January 1942.