Hospital marks 55th anniversary by reflecting on its evolution over the decades We marked the 55th anniversary of The Princess Alexandra Hospital on Monday, 27 April, with the hospital having served many generations of the community of west Essex and east Hertfordshire. The official opening ceremony was held on 27 April 1965, attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy. HRH Princess Alexandra is The Queen’s cousin and a working member of the Royal Family. An account of the official opening of the hospital, held in our library archives, describes the event in vivid detail. The Princess (pictured right) arrived by helicopter at Harlow Heliport on Tuesday, 27 April 1965, in particularly dark and wet weather. From here she was taken by car to the soon to be opened hospital which was to be named after her (a well-kept secret at the time). During this car journey, she was met by some 1,500 people, mostly children, along Second and Third Avenue, determined to endure the weather for a short glimpse of the Princess. By the time she arrived at the hospital in the early afternoon, the sun started to break through the clouds and the marquee event was flush with 600 guests ready to meet the Princess and formally open the hospital. After giving an address to the guests, she was brought to the front door of the hospital and given the key by Mr
Photo courtesy of George Taylor S.E.T. Cusdin, architect for the hospital. It continues: A cheer was heard throughout the crowd and after a short interlude; people began to enter the building. After unveiling a ceremonial plaque for Princess Alexandra Hospital, she went on a tour of the facilities with an entourage of doctors and nurses to welcome her.
of a modern acute hospital. This includes computerised tomography (CT) scanners, which were first used in the UK in 1972. They continued to be used at the hospital from the 1970s, and in September 1998, HRH Princess Alexandra revisited the hospital to officially open the new CT scanner suite in the X-ray department.
The radiology department at PAHT performed 32,236 CT investigations in 2019 and it has now been announced that we It was reported in the papers are to receive £447,000 from the as follows: scores of children Government for a new state-ofand mothers pushing prams had managed to gatecrash the tickets- the-art CT scanner, to be installed this year. This will support early by-invitation only event. They diagnosis of cancer for our crowded round the walk for a patients. glimpse of the Princess. Following this momentous day in 1965, the hospital saw the implementation of many procedures and treatments that are now a mainstay of the work
The hospital was established as The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in April 1995, providing services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital 8
InTouch March 2020_V7.indd 8
01/06/2020 15:53
