This year in Chipping Barnet, we are celebrating not one but two Diamond events. Alongside commemorating the anniversary of the Queen’s ascension to the throne, Friends of Barnet Hospital are marking sixty years of working to improve the care of hospital patients in Barnet.
The sixtieth anniversary of Friends of Barnet Hospital (FOBH) rightly provides our community with a chance to take stock of the vital services they have provided to hospital patients over the years and the improvements they have made to their quality of care.
On October 11th 1952, only four years after the establishment of the NHS, Friends of Barnet Hospitals held its inaugural meeting. The organisation originally consisted of 39 members whose aim was to raise funds and act as a link between Chipping Barnet’s local hospitals and the communities they served.
While their aims remain the same, FOBH have seen many changes over the years. St. Stephen’s Hospital on Mays Lane closed and services at Victoria Maternity Hospital on Wood Street were moved to Edgware Hospital. Wellhouse Hospital was then completely rebuilt and became Barnet General Hospital NHS Trust. Barnet NHS Trust later joined with Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield.
In the 1950s, one of the first projects the Friends helped to fund was to provide radio receivers for each ward complete with pillow phones. Over the years, they have also helped to fund a new recreation hall, a Postgraduate Centre and a pacing room for patients suffering from heart disease. In 1978, FOBH opened its own hospital radio station, which is still on air today.
Nowadays most requests for funds are for expensive medical equipment in order to provide patients with access to the most up-to-date treatment. For example, FOBH have recently helped to fund the introduction of minimally invasive surgery (micro surgery) for patients suffering from colorectal cancer.
While in the past, funds have been raised through fetes, concerts and sporting events, now the main source of income is the hospital shop, supported by subscriptions and legacies. The FOBH shop occupies the lower ground floor of the atrium at Barnet Hospital and I would encourage the whole community to support their vital and much valued work.
I recently wrote to the Queen’s Private Secretary to draw her Majesty’s attention to the wonderful work done by the FOBH during the 60 years of her reign. With Barnet Hospital set to expand its maternity and emergency services in a multi-million pound improvement programme recently approved by NHS London, I am sure the hospital, its staff and its patients will continue to value the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who make up FOBH.