Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) is a specialist orthopaedic hospital located in the London Borough of Harrow, United Kingdom, and a part of Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust. It provides the most comprehensive range of neuro-musculoskeletal health care in the UK, including acute spinal injury, complex bone tumour treatment, orthopaedic medicine and specialist rehabilitation for chronic back pain. The RNOH is a major teaching centre and around 20% of orthopaedic surgeons in the UK receive training there. History The hospital was established by way of a merger of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (founded in 1840 and based in Hanover Square) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital (founded in 1836 and based in Great Portland Street) in August 1905. The City Orthopaedic Hospital (founded in 1851 and based in Hatton Garden) joined the merger in 1907. New facilities for the merged entities were built on Great Portland Street and were opened by King Edward VII in July 1909. During the First World War, the hospital in Great Portland Street became an emergency hospital for the military and from early 1918 also accommodated discharged disabled soldiers. The Great Portland Street site continued to accommodate short-term in-patients after the war. In 1922, the hospital management acquired the Mary Wardell Convalescent Home for Scarlet Fever in Stanmore and established its country branch there. The Duke of Gloucester laid the foundation stone for a major extension at the Stanmore site shortly thereafter. The Stanmore site started to accommodate long-term in-patients at this time. In April 1979, the Prince of Wales opened a Rehabilitation Assessment Unit at the Stanmore site, built with funds raised by the British Motor Racing Drivers Association in memory of Graham Hill who had once been a patient of the hospital. In March 1984, the Princess of Wales opened a spinal injuries unit at the Stanmore site. Later that year, the lease on the building in Great Portland Street ended and services were transferred to the Stanmore site.