The hospital was founded by Henry Obre and John Woolcott, both surgeons at St John's Place in Lisson Grove as the St Marylebone Eye and Ear Institution in 1856.[1] It moved to a larger facilities in Marylebone Road in 1860, and an out-patients department was opened by the Marquess of Ripon in 1904.[1] After the existing facility at Marylebone Road became very dilapidated, a new purpose-built facility was built on the same site and opened in March 1930.[1] It joined the National Health Service in 1948 and was renamed the Western Eye Hospital in 1993.[1]
The former Samaritan Hospital for Women is located next door, and though largely disused is utilised to provide estates and facilities support for the adjoining Western Eye Hospital.[2]
Facilities
The hospital operates a daily emergency department for ambulance and walk-in cases. It features a minor surgical theatre, a triage system and three ophthalmic operating theatres. It treats a wide range of eye conditions from glaucoma, cataract, retinal tears, to wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a major cause of blindness.[3]
Alumni and staff
Bashar al-Assad - former President of Syria (attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital, specializing in vitreoretinal ophthalmology).[4] There, al-Assad’s consultant supervisor remarked: “He was an extremely kind person and a warm personality", while a nurse stated that he was “calm at the operating table and had a wonderful manner with the patients... He spoke with every patient just before surgery to reassure them all would be well.”[5]
