Teddington Memorial Hospital is the oldest cottage hospital in Britain; the hospital was opened as the Teddington and Hampton Wick Cottage Hospital in 1875. It is a community hospital operated by Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust that’s open all week. The Walk-In Centre is staffed by highly trained and experienced nurse practitioners, who hold advanced nursing qualifications and are able to provide care for adults and children for a range of illnesses and injuries. It is a small practise, with the majority of its wards catering geriatric patients.
What is Teddington doing during this pandemic? The tight knit community have tried to support the vulnerable as much as possible, through schemes in roads and parishes. This has been a support for the forever hard working NHS. Teddington Memorial have been preparing for Corona since early January, with isolation pods set up outside the practise. The Hospital has been raising awareness of using the 111 line if they feel symptoms of the virus, instead of coming into practise and causing the risk of the virus spreading. With the hospital advocating that only medical emergencies that cannot be treated at home, should be brought into the practise’s emergency room.
The hospital and its preparation for this pandemic and its effective healthcare during, prove that even the smallest of NHS facilities can provide excellent care. The significance of the amount of people using the ER walk in has decreased. With people avoiding hospitals, especially small ones, unless it’s necessary. Hopefully this can continue after the pandemic and demonstrate how the NHS should be used, less demand and less pressure would benefit staff greatly.
Each hospital, big or small, should be celebrated for its ability to cope under such strenuous circumstances, with each staff member putting themselves and their household at risk of the virus. Teddington Memorial has also called in ex-NHS staff to volunteer, showing the dedication to combat this pandemic.
