University College London Hospital

THIRTY years ago this month a frankly ridiculous suggestion was on the table.

Scarcely believable now, given all the lives that have been saved and babies delivered, but government bods thought the best way to restructure health services in our city would be to close University College London Hospital.

The claim was that too many services were being duplicated and that there needed to be mergers.

UCLH was in the firing line partly because it needed an expensive rebuild.

It all seems a long time ago now, but we should not forget how there was a tremendous defence of the hospital.

And I must say, looking back, there is a sense of pride about the role our sister title, the Camden New Journal, played in the campaign.

The paper’s double-decker battlebus led a protest march in much the same way its all-singing and dancing Routemaster raced to the rescue of the Whittington Hospital in more recent years. Of course, the main heroes of that campaign were the hospital workers, unions and supporters who showed great resistance, often stopping the traffic in Tottenham Court Road with their demos.

At one point there was an “occupation” of one of the wards – all while the excellent treatment of patients continued.

It never did make sense that the government’s advisers were of the view that central London had too many hospitals when so many were waiting for treatment in long queues.

And now look at UCLH. Its importance was perhaps revealed in its greatest detail during the Covid pandemic when the long and arduous shifts by staff helped keep people alive.

It is often at the centre of great breakthroughs for therapy too, while scores of new Londoners open their eyes for the first time in UCLH. Its neonatal unit is the one so many pick for births, including Carrie Johnson – the outgoing prime minister’s wife – last year.

Of course, other hospitals did close, including he Middlesex in Fitzrovia, and it hasn’t all been rosy. The way UCLH was rebuilt using an ugly PFI contract made for a sour postcript. It has been estimated that £30million a year has been sucked out in that arrangement to private companies.

But at least it’s still there. So many have reason to be grateful.