The London Clinic was established by a group of Harley Street doctors; the building was designed by Charles Henry Biddulph-Pinchard and officially opened in 1932 by the Duchess of York, who was accompanied by the Duke.[3][4]
Second World War
From October 1939 until July 1940 the London Clinic was closed to patients for necessary changes to meet wartime need. The walls were strengthened, upper storeys vacated and repurposed. Operating theatres were transferred from the 8th floor to the basement.[5] Shelters were created in the basement where patients from the 3rd and 4th floors could sleep.[6] The Second World War came close to home for the London Clinic with bombs falling in the Marylebone area and in Harley Street.[7]
Wartime links were established between the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and The London Clinic. Eminent surgeons performed operations necessary to alter the appearance of agents who were to operate behind enemy lines in Nazi occupied Europe.[5][8] High ranking military officers were also admitted and treated for various conditions. These included Archibald SinclairSecretary of State for Air and General Dwight D. EisenhowerSupreme Allied Commander Europe who both worked from the Clinic when they were patients.[6] The Clinic staff were vetted for security.[9]
The London Clinic wartime Matron was Miss Jean Decima Jacomb who was born on 11 January 1894, the tenth child out of thirteen of an affluent family. During the First World War, Jean Jacomb trained as a Registered Nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital.[10] She also went on to qualify in midwifery, gaining experience in Whitechapel.[9][11] She held senior posts at St. Bartholomew's and other hospitals. She become Supervisor of St. Bartholomew's District Midwives and then Matron of The Cancer Hospital (later to be renamed The Royal Marsden Hospital). She was appointed to the London Clinic in 1938.[9][12]
It fell to Jean Jacomb to oversee the process of putting the London Clinic on a wartime footing.[5][9] Due to absence of records it is not known the precise extent of Jean Jacomb's clinical achievements. However she received the highest tributes from the Executive and Trustees of The London Clinic on her retirement in 1949.[13] The weight of responsibility on a Matron during the most exacting times received acknowledgment. She was credited with establishing the highest nursing standards always displaying calm authority and maintaining an unfailing presence.[9]
Aged 90 she was admitted to a Kensington Nursing Home and passed away on 13 June 1988.[9]
After an inspection in December 2014 by the Food Standards Agency the organisation was given only two stars, the only hospital in London to perform so poorly,[16] but the poor standard of hygiene was addressed and, after a further inspection in June 2015, the Clinic was awarded five stars.[17]
In November 2015 it secured a £65 million revolving credit facility from HSBC which was used to increase theatre capacity, boost technology investment and renovate the radiology and intensive care facilities.[18] In November 2017 the Care Quality Commission described the design of the new intensive care unit and the annual multi-faith memorial service, which contributes to end of life services, as areas of "outstanding practice".[19] The new intensive care unit was unveiled by the Duchess of Cornwall in 2017.[14] The clinic opened a specialist centre for robotic surgery in 2019.[20]
Criticisms
In June 2021, following an unannounced inspection, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) used their enforcement powers to issue the clinic with a Warning Notice in respect of their failure to provide Good Governance. When the CQC reinspected later that year, they found that not all of their concerns had been addressed and their report specified their monitoring of the failure would continue until fixed.[21] The CQC also found during their inspection, that the Surgical service required improvement and it was "inadequate in [the category of being] well-led".[22]
In 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued an Official Reprimand, for the clinic's lack of transparency over a period of six years, for not disclosing part-time Consultants' referral payments, going back to 2015. The CMA criticised the clinic's approach and said it broke Part 3, of the Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014, with the clinic only summarising payments as "the fair market rate for their services".[23][24]
In March 2024, the Information commissioner's office confirmed that they were looking into a security breach at the clinic.[25] Speculation that recent patient records have been accessed by an unauthorised member of staff are widespread in the media. At least two senior members of the royal family have been treated at the clinic in 2024.[26] The clinic's website on the subject of personal data, makes clear and confirms we, "only permit access to those with a legitimate power or reason to access your [personal] information".[27] The following day, the clinic issued a statement that if a data breach by staff was found, disciplinary action would follow.[28]
^ abcFrischauer, Willi (1967). The Clinic (1st ed.). Leslie Frewin London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ abWhite, H (2007). A History of the London Clinic A Celebration of 75 Years (1st ed.). London: Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd. pp. 64–128. ISBN978-1-85315-712-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
