Medical dates:

Medical character:

The Plaistow Hospital originated from three hospitals in East London.  

The Poplar Board of Works Infectious Diseases Hospital had opened in Samson Street in 1871.  In 1894 the Hospital was bought by the West Ham Borough Council, and the Smallpox Hospital in Pragel Street subsequently closed that same year.

In 1895 the Council purchased the West Ham Board of Guardians Smallpox Hospital, which had also opened in 1871, in Western Road, Plaistow.

A large island site was thus available for the building of a new infectious diseases hospital.  This opened in 1901 as the Plaistow Fever Hospital, with 210 beds (70 for men, 70 for women and 70 for children).

The Hospital was one of the most modern of its kind, pioneering the barrier method of nursing infectious patients.  It played a role also in the training of medical students.

In 1930 the nursing staff consisted of a Matron, an Assistant Matron, a Sister Tutor, a Night Sister, 8 Day Sisters, 5 Staff Nurses and 57 probationers.  There was a Medical Superintendent and 2 Resident Medical Officers.

During WW2 the Hospital was damaged by bombs.

In 1947 Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, used the older Samson Street buildings as a medical in-patient department.

The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 under the control of the West Ham Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East  Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.  Its name was changed to the Plaistow Hospital, as it now treated acute medical cases as well as infectious diseases.

In 1955 the Hospital had 185 beds - 68 for general medical cases, 68 for patients with infectious diseases and 49 for those with TB.

Following a major reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, the Hospital came under the administration of the Newham District Health Authority, part of the North East Thames Regional Hospital Board.

In 1983 it became a hospital for elderly long-stay patients.

With the introduction of the market-place system in the early 1990s, in 1995 the Hospital joined the Newham Community Health Services NHS Trust.

It closed in 2006 when the patients from the Frail  Elders Services were transferred to the newly opened, purpose-built East Ham Care Centre, behind the East Ham Memorial Hospital in Shrewsbury Road.  The patients had occupied just half the site of the Plaistow Hospital and it was felt it was no longer economically viable to keep the remaining staff on site.

Present status (February 2008)

The site is now vacant and no decision has been made about its disposal.


Update: September 2012

In 2011 the 2.9 acre site was sold to Peabody.  In 2012 an architectural competition for the redevelopment of the site was held, which was won by PCKO.  It is unclear which, if any, of the original Hospital buildings will survive.


Update:  August 2016

The redevelopment is almost complete.   It has been named Upton Village and contains about 168 mixed tenure dwellings.