1. History

2. Facilities

3. TGN incident

4. In popular culture

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

Northwick Park Hospital (NWPH) is a hospital located in the Northwick Park district of the London Borough of Brent in northwest London, England, adjacent to the borough border with the London Borough of Harrow and serving both boroughs. The hospital is part of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.

History

The hospital was commissioned by the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board in the late 1960s and designed by the British architect John Weeks. The design of the hospital was largely inspired by British obsolescence studies, in which a loose-jointed medical complex was created with flexibility to withstand obsolescence's unpredictable effects.^[1] With only a fixed internal street system, the architects referred to the hospital as "an indeterminate architecture" with "no final plan" – free to grow and change over time.^[2] It was opened by the Queen in 1970.^[3]

In 1994, St Mark's Hospital, previously located in central London, moved into a wing of the hospital formerly occupied by the Medical Research Council.^[4]

While fighting extradition for murder and torture General Augusto Pinochet was a patient at Northwick Park Hospital in January 2000.^[5]

In 2005, the hospital's maternity department was named as having one of the highest death rates in the United Kingdom.^[6] 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, but as of 2016 the Trust's maternity and gynaecology services were rated as 'requires improvement' by the Care Quality Commission.^[7]

A 2016 Care Quality Commission report rated Northwick Park Hospital as 'requires improvement' overall, with only one out of eight assessment areas attaining a better rating. The report highlighted a number of concerns found during inspection visits, including that surgical staff were not always reporting incidents, patients experienced long waits, compliance with safeguarding training was poor, examples of poor infection control practice, a poor environment on the stroke wards, and that nutrition and hydration was poorly managed. The Commission subsequently issued the Trust with a Section 29 (A) warning notice.^[8]

Facilities

The hospital provides a full range of services including paediatrics, maxillofacial, orthopaedics, neurology, cardiology, elderly care medicine and a regional rehabilitation unit for patients with additional on-going acute medical needs.^[9]

Local charity Radio Harrow is based within the hospital and has provided a patient visiting and broadcasting service since 1971.^[12]

Northwick Park is one of the few hospitals in England to have a Paternoster lift transport system, but it is currently not in use.^[13]

TGN incident

On 13 March 2006, six people in a clinical trial at the independent Parexel drug trial unit (which is not run by London North West Healthcare 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. Victims from this drug trial sought compensation for their multiple injuries with the help of a British law firm. Parexel, the American company responsible for the clinical trial, brought their own lawyers along for the hearings about the TGN1412 drug, billed as a possible wonder cure for arthritis, multiple sclerosis and leukaemia. The compensation money will largely be spent on equipment, adaptations and assistance they will need with their injuries.^[14] The incident was featured in the BBC 2 programme The Drug Trial: Emergency at the Hospital which aired in February 2017.^[15]

In popular culture

The British sitcom Green Wing was filmed partly in Northwick Park Hospital and partly in North Hampshire Hospital.^[16]

The hospital features in the seventh series of ITV's Prime Suspect.^[16]

In the 1976 film The Omen, the external scene when Katherine's body falls from a window and crashes into a parked ambulance was filmed at Northwick Park Hospital.^[16]

In episode 6, season 1 of Fawlty Towers, Sybil is in Northwick Park Hospital for ingrown toenail surgery. Basil later joins her after he gets a concussion during the fire drill.^[17]

Before becoming the lead singer for Duran Duran, Simon Le Bon worked as a theatre porter at Northwick Park Hospital.^[18]

See also

• Healthcare in London
• List of hospitals in England

References

External links

• London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
• Northwick Park Hospital General Information
• Report of Healthcare Commission concerning maternity deaths in Northwick Park Hospital

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