Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1952, to relieve pressure on acute beds, the King's Fund opened Holmhurst Home, a halfway house for elderly patients discharged from hospital who needed rehabilitation care before they could return to their own homes.

The Home, which had 24 beds, was under the control of the Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee, with most patients referred from the South Western Hospital.

In 1962 the word 'Home' was dropped from the title as the Committee thought it would cause confusion; Holmhurst was not to be thought of as a permanent old people's home.

In 1966 the managers of the King's Fund announced that they would be withdrawing their support to this and other such rehabilitation units so that their funds could be used elsewhere in the healthcare system.

On 1st April 1968 the Minister of Health assigned Holmhurst to the Board of Governors of St Thomas' Hospital, who also took over control of the South Western Hospital.  Nonetheless, the existing Hospital Management Committee continued to run the Home until February 1969, when its day-to-day management was taken over by the Secretary of the South Western Hospital.

The Home closed in 1980; the remaining patients were transferred to the South Western Hospital.


Present status (May 2008)

The premises became the Holmhurst Day Centre, a care home for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

UPDATE: July 2014

Holmhurst Day Centre closed in 2011 as a cost-saving exercise by Southwark Council.  Patients were transferred to the Fred Francis Day Centre in East Dulwich.  This, in turn, is now about to close when the new £2m Centre of Excellence opens in the near future.