St Mark's Hospital

colorectal medicine and is a national and international referral centre for intestinal and colorectal disorders.^[1] It is the only hospital in the UK, and one of only 14 worldwide, to be recognised as a centre of excellence by the World Organisation of Digestive Endoscopy.^[2]

Aldersgate Street where, in 1835, Frederick Salmon opened 'The Infirmary for the Relief of the Poor afflicted with Fistula and other Diseases of the Rectum'. There were just seven beds and in the first year 131 patients were admitted. Frederick Salmon was born in Bath in 1796 and served his apprenticeship in medicine there. He qualified at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1817 and subsequently became a house-surgeon. In 1827, he was elected to a Surgeon's post at the Aldersgate Street Dispensary. However, Salmon resigned five years later, along with the rest of the medical staff, because of a dispute with the Management Committee about the method of choosing new staff. Tired of the restrictions of working within the establishment, Salmon decided to found his own institution to provide treatment for those conditions which were regarded as 'the most distressing that can afflict our common nature'. So the 'Fistula Infirmary', as it came to be known, was started.^[3]

St Mark's Day, 25 April 1854, and took the name of St Mark's Hospital for Fistula and other Diseases of the Rectum.^[3]

peptic ulcer. In 1859, Frederick Salmon resigned from his post as Surgeon. He is said to have performed 3,500 operations without a single fatality, a remarkable feat in an age when anaesthetics were only just beginning to be used and antiseptics were unknown. The Governors commissioned a portrait of him which is now displayed outside of the ward that bears his name.^[4][5][6]

John Percy Lockhart-Mummery, who was a pioneer in cancer surgery. The First World War seems to have made little direct impact, although ten beds were given over to servicemen. Despite the stringency of the times, the Governors purchased more land on the east side of the hospital which gave room for expansion after hostilities had ceased. An Appeal Fund launched in 1920 which was very successful. In 1926 work began on a large extension which gave the hospital a new appearance^[3] and provided two new wards, as well as new Out-Patient, X-Ray, Pathology and Research Departments. A nurses' home was also provided for the first time. This was replaced by a self-contained home in 1936,^[3] when the former accommodation became a private wing named after Lockhart-Mummery, who had retired the previous year. St Mark's was taken over by the new National Health Service in 1948.^[3] A Samaritan Fund was established to assist patients, and meetings ceased in May 1949 when administration of the Fund officially passed to the Ladies Association. The Ladies Association became the Friends of St Mark's in June 1971.^[4][5]

Barts and The London NHS Trust). St Mark's became part of the North West London NHS trust and moved to the same site as Northwick Park Hospital in 1995.^[3] In 2021, St Mark's transferred a majority of its services to the Central Middlesex site, with Northwick Park and Ealing remaining as satellite hospitals. The hospital maintains strong teaching ties with Imperial College School of Medicine.^[4][5]