https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/about-us/our-history/

Our history

A nurse appears in nurse clothing handing a plate of food to a child on a bed with black railing and whole scene is in black and white.

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) opened on 14 February 1852 as ‘The Hospital for Sick Children’. It was the first hospital in the UK to provide dedicated inpatient care for children, starting in a townhouse at 49 Great Ormond Street with just 10 beds.

Founded by Dr Charles West in response to the high levels of child mortality in London, the hospital began with a small team of two physicians. Since then, GOSH has grown into an international centre of excellence for children’s healthcare, specialising in rare and complex conditions.

Today, GOSH brings together multi-disciplinary teams of healthcare professionals and scientists to improve outcomes for children. Through research with local, national and international partners, the hospital has developed innovative treatments and techniques that are now used across the NHS and around the world.

From then to now

GOSH was founded by Dr Charles West, who was driven to set up a children's hospital by the shockingly high level of infant mortality in London.

The hospital started in a seventeenth century townhouse with just 10 beds and two physicians. Since then, GOSH has become a place where multi–disciplinary teams of healthcare professionals and scientists improve the lives of children with rare or complex diseases.

Through carrying out research with local, national and international partners, GOSH has developed a number of new clinical treatments and techniques that are used across the NHS and around the world.

We host the The UK’s only National Institute for Health and Care Research funded Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR GOSH BRC) that solely focuses on child health, and we are also home to the NIHR GOSH Clinical Research Facility, which provides specialist day care accommodation for children and young people taking part in clinical research studies.

Breakthroughs

Learn about some of the hospital's pioneering breakthroughs over the past 160 years. 

Archives

Find out about how our Archive Service is keeping the hospital's history alive. 

Peter Pan

Read about our connection with Peter Pan, and how he's been helping children grow up for over 80 years.

Reference:
0626ABU0003
Last review date:
19 June 2026