About Us

St John's Hospice is part of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, which was founded in 1856 by the Sisters of Mercy, an order of nuns who worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean war. The Hospital was originally situated next to the church of St John in Great Ormond Street in the centre of London. From the start it pioneered the use of advanced nursing techniques to help the sick, the dying and the needy in the local community.

By 1897, the Hospital needed more space to accommodate ever larger numbers of patients, and a site in St John's Wood was acquired and work began to move the hospital. The hospital moved in 1899, with the chapel being moved to its present position in 1900.

In 1977, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Brampton Trust, which has helped to fund the Hospital since 1907, started to discuss the possibility of having beds available in the Hospital for the admission of Cancer patients both on medical and social grounds. However, it was not until 1980 that plans for the development of what was then known as the Catherine McAuley Unit began to take shape. From 1981 to 1984, the unit consisted of a five bedded ward situated at the front of the Hospital overlooking Grove End Road.

The success of the Catherine McAuley Unit led to the development of a ten-bedded purpose built unit which would become known as St. John's Hospice. The Hospice formally opened on 29th May 1984. It was situated where the Day Services Centre is now, with a four bedded men's bay and a similar women's bay, plus two single rooms.

In 1987, the Hospice extended its work with the addition of a Day Centre and a major New Development Plan was drawn up to extend the hospice and increase the number of beds.

The new wing which included the new Hospice opened on 3rd July 1991. In 1999, a further wing was added to the Hospice increasing the number of beds to the existing 19.

Any history of the Hospice would be incomplete without noting the enormous contribution made to development of the service by Dr Philip Jones, who was our medical director for 17 years, until his death in 2002. Philip steered the Hospice through many important stages of our growth, notably the decision to admit patients living with HIV/AIDS, when there was still much ignorance about the conditions. He is remembered with great affection by those that worked alongside him.