A Fond Farewell to Lambeth Hospital
As the final wards and teams prepare to leave the site, we said goodbye to a pillar of the Trust: Lambeth Hospital. The farewell event was a chance for us to come together, reminisce about our years at the site, thank the staff who worked there and look towards the future.
The event was wonderful celebration of the rich history of the hospital. The site has been home to a hospital for over 150 years, from the original Stockwell Hospital to Tooting Bec, to Lambeth hospital which opened in 1996.
Staff shared their favourite memories of working at the site, remembering their training, interviews, first days working on the wards and events hosted throughout the years.
Speaking at the event, Lambeth Service Director, Emma Porter said: “It’s filled me with great emotion walking around the wards today and thinking about the care that we’d provided to patients on their journeys to recovery. I’m filled with hope when we look ahead to our journey of improvement and moving to New Douglas Bennett House – it's a really exciting opportunity for us.
“Thank you to all the staff at Lambeth Hospital because this really come down to the people. It’s about doing what is best for our staff, our patients, our carers and families. We’ve been providing care in an environment that isn’t fit for purpose but our resilience and the care we have provided despite that makes me feel incredibly proud and it’s a real privilege to be the service director for Lambeth.”
The event was a lively and celebratory chance to mark the end of the Trust's time at the site, where we have supported service users in their recovery and worked together for so many years – we were also so pleased to be joined by some former colleagues at the event.
Moving forward: what's next?
Most wards and services have now relocated from Lambeth Hospital to their new homes across the Trust. This includes the brand-new building, New Douglas Bennett House based on our Maudsley site at Denmark Hill. The new building is designed with service users in mind and is a more therapeutic space which can better support recovery for service users, and the wellbeing of our staff. The final wards have now moved into New Douglas Bennett House, which is now fully operational.
We are pleased to announce that Tony Hillis Unit and Ward in the Community will be moving from Lambeth to Bethlem Royal Hospital on Wednesday 30 September. They will be the final wards to leave Lambeth Hospital site.
Moving on: the Lambeth Hospital site
Earlier this year, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust agreed the sale of the Lambeth Hospital site to Legal & General (L&G), which plans to deliver a £350m redevelopment of around 700 build-to-rent homes, including affordable housing, and amenities.
This sale is a key part of the Trust’s £186m investment programme to modernise mental health facilities, including the state-of-the-art New Douglas Bennett House where many of the wards previously located at Lambeth Hospital have moved to.
Chief Executive, Paul Calaminus said: "Since 1996 we have supported thousands of service users, worked with hundreds of colleagues, done research and innovated together at Lambeth Hospital. We've been lucky to work with our partners to do all of this – and long may that continue.
"Now the site will go onto support the people of Lambeth in a new way, bringing much needed new housing to the borough.
"Whilst we are sad to be saying farewell to Lambeth Hospital and its rich history, this move will be good for our service users, for our staff, and for our community. And that's a legacy we can be proud of."
