History of Neurosurgery at The Royal Free Hospital in London

Abstract

The recent move of the neurosurgical services from The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in Hampstead to The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Queen Square signified the end of an era of neurosurgery in North London. It also represents also another chapter in the history of the remarkable North London hospital that is The Royal Free Hospital. This short article looks at the history of the Department of Neurosurgery at The Royal Free Hospital and the factors contributing to the reorganisation of neurosurgical services in North London.

Keywords::

• neurosurgery
• history
• NHS
• neurosurgical training

Acknowledgements

Most of the information in this article has been obtained in personal communication with the Royal Free neurosurgery consultants. Information quoted from websites is given in the reference section. The paper was drafted by H. Pulhorn after personal interviews with R. Bradford, L. Thorne, N. Dorward, C. Shieff, M. Murphy and R. Maurice-Williams. Final approval of the version to be published was given by R. Bradford.

We would like to thank the Royal Free Hospital Archive Centre for allowing the use of the photographs.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.