Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1919 Mitcham Borough Council acquired Woodlands, a large Victorian house with extensive grounds in Colliers Wood, for use as an Infant Welfare Centre.

In 1924 the premises were converted by the Council and became the Woodlands Maternity Home with 11 beds.

The Home joined the NHS in 1948 as the Woodlands Maternity Hospital under the control of the St Helier Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.  It had 15 beds.   It virtually became an annexe of St Helier Hospital.

Despite it being a popular maternity home, the Regional Hospital Board decided that there was an  overwhelming need for accommodation for chronically sick elderly patients, especially in the Mitcham area.  In August 1953 the Hospital became Woodlands - the geriatric unit for the Group.

In 1957, when it had 23 beds, a Day Room was built.

In 1958 the weekly cost of an in-patient was £14 9s 4d (£14.47) and, by 1959, £16 6s 11d (£16.35).

In 1960 the Hospital had 22 beds.  In 1965 the weekly cost of an in-patients was £23 14s 4d (£23.72), which fell slightly in the following year to £23 13s 0d (£23.65).

By 1971 the weekly cost of an in-patient was £30.45.

The Hospital closed on 31st March 1971.

Present status (June 2009)

The old Victorian building has been demolished and a much larger nursing home - Woodlands House - occupies its site, with its entrance in Cavendish Road.