History
The hospital was established as the infirmary for the St Pancras Union Workhouse in 1848. It is partly housed in the original 18th-century workhouse buildings.
After St Pancras North Infirmary opened in Highgate in 1869, the hospital in St Pancras Way became known as the St Pancras South Infirmary. After the North Infirmary was renamed Highgate Hospital, the South Infirmary was renamed St Pancras Hospital in 1920. In 1930, the hospital was transferred to the jurisdiction of London County Council under the Local Government Act. 1929.
At this time the hospital had 384 beds under the supervision of Medical Superintendent R. K. Ford MD (Lond), Matron Miss F. Davey and Steward W. R. Chaplin. Ethel Frances Davey was appointed matron in 1923, having previously worked at the Ministry of Pensions Hospital in Orpington. Matron Davey, a fellow of the British College of Nursing, remained in post until her sudden death in 1944.
On the same site as the St. Pancras Hospital was the St. Pancras Institution with 1,320 beds in 1930 for which W. Feldman was also medical officer and Miss V. N. Spencer-Jones RRC was matron, a post she held from 1922 to 1940.
The hospital joined the National Health Service in 1948 under the management of the University College Hospital.
The former maternity wards were occupied by the Hospital for Tropical Diseases from 1951 until 1998. After the hospital chapel became a day nursery, chaplaincy services were provided by St Pancras Old Church. During the 1990s the hospital came under the management of the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.
In January 1999 an independent report revealed abuse at Beach House, one of the geriatric units of the hospital, where nurses hit and tied up elderly mentally ill patients, and racially intimidated colleagues who threatened to report them.
A paedophile nurse was sacked in February 2005 and subsequently struck off.
The number of mental health beds was reduced between 2007 and 2008.
Future
In 2026, plans were underway to redevelop the site, and sell the majority of the land and buildings to help fund new healthcare facilities across North London. A two acre portion of the estate was sold in 2023 to construct a new state of the art eye hospital for Moorfields NHS Foundation Trust.
The remainder of the site, except for the existing South Wing, has been sold to the Kings Cross Group to be redeveloped into housing and commercial units. The South Wing will continue to be used by the Trust following refurbishment.
United Kingdom