Apioneering heart and lung hospital that began life as a First World War tuberculosis colony is celebrating its centenary as its prepares for a new chapter in its story.
Royal Papworth Hospital, centred on Papworth Hall, 13 miles outside Cambridge, launched its centenary celebrations on 12 February to mark 100 years to the day when 17 patients arrived for TB treatment, many of them soldiers from the Front. Cases of TB surged in WW1, killing thousands a year. In 1915, more than 41,000 people died of TB in the UK.
The Cambridgeshire Tuberculosis Colony, as the hospital was then known, was TB Officer Dr Pendrill Varrier-Jones’ experimental scheme, relocated to the village of Papworth Everard from nearby Bourn following a wealthy benefactor’s £5,000 donation. The move realised his vision for a long-term approach to care, and he developed the concept of an industrial colony to treat, house and employ patients and their families. In 1929 the colony was renamed the Papworth Village Settlement, and in 1948 treatment blocks were passed to the National Health Service, and the facility began developing world-leading expertise in other areas of chest medicine under the name Papworth Hospital. Today Royal Papworth Hospital is known globally for its pioneering heart transplant work and other specialisms, including cystic fibrosis and sleep disorders.