The original hospital on the site was built in 1940 with the intention of providing medical aid to people suffering orthopaedic injuries as a result of air raids during the Second World War.[1] This proved unnecessary, and the building was leased to the United States Army medical services, who were relocating from Basingstoke.[2] The new American hospital was named after Sir Winston Churchill, the then Prime Minister,[1] and was opened by the Duchess of Kent on 27 January 1942.[3]
The US Army left the hospital at the end of the war and it was taken over by the local council and reopened as a conventional hospital in January 1946.[1] The Churchill Hospital came under common management with the John Radcliffe Hospital in April 1993 and with the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in November 2011.[3] New cancer treatment facilities were procured under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 2005. The new facility, which was built by a joint venture of Alfred McAlpine and Impregilo at a cost of £125 million, opened in 2009.[4]
On 4 January 2021, the hospital was the first to administer the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca's AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine (outside trials). This started the UK's rollout of the second vaccine to enter the programme. Brian Pinker 82, was the recipient.[5]
