Northwick Park Hospital

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Northwick Park Hospital is a large hospital in Greater London, England. It is located in the North West corner of the London Borough of Brent, remote from the main part of Wembley and close to Harrow and Kenton. The hospital is primarily a National Health Service (NHS) hospital (although it has some private funding units). It is part of the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust. St. Mark's Hospital, a national centre of gastrointestinal medicine is based at the same site.

The hospital has its own hospital radio station called Radio Northwick Park.

Northwick Park is also one of the few hospitals in England to have a Paternoster lift transport system. This was featured in the film Omen. The system is controlled by smart card access for staff only.

[edit] Location and Transport

The address of the hospital is:-

Northwick Park Hospital

Watford Road

HARROW

HA1 3UJ

A number of bus routes serve the hospital, most calling at dedicated bus stops within the hospital grounds near the main Watford Road entrance on the West side of the site; other buses pass nearby on Kenton Road and Watford Road without entering the hospital. The nearest railway stations are Kenton, Northwick Park and Harrow on the Hill, all of which have direct bus connections; Northwick Park station is connected to the hospital by a footpath. Bus transport is also available without changing from other areas including Edgware, Wembley and Kingsbury.

The hospital has on-site car parks but these are priced to discourage use by commuters, becoming increasingly expensive after 4 hours use; able-bodied visitors intending to visit for longer might find it cheaper to use public transport.

[edit] History and News

The hospital was featured in the classic 1970s comedy Fawlty Towers and the 1976 horror film The Omen, and has been used as a set for both series of the Channel 4 comedy series Green Wing.

In 2005 the hospital's maternity department was named as having one of the highest death rates in the United Kingdom^{[citation needed]}. During the period April 2002 to March 2004, the maternal death rate for the maternity unit was 74.2 per 100,000, 6.5 times the national average of 11.4 per 100,000, as reported by Cemach (Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health).

On Monday, 13th March 2006, six patients participating in a drug trial at the independent Parexel drug trial unit became severely unwell following administration of a trial drug (TGN1412) and were transferred to the intensive therapy unit at Northwick Park. Affected patients developed multi-organ failure and required intensive medical support by the critical care team at NPH, led by Dr Ganesh Suntharalingam. All the patients subsequently survived and the last one was discharged in June 2006.