St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy
Have you Heard the one about 100,000 Sick Vicars?
The chances are you have not, which is rather sad because here is a true success story. St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy was founded in 1892 to serve clergy and their families; monks and nuns, missionaries and licensed lay workers within the Church of England, as well as the world wide Anglican communion.
This year the hospital will welcome its 100,000th clergy patient for treatment. This is not a private hospital for clergy; we make no charges to clergy patients and operate with a unique charter reconfirmed by The Department of Health in 1994. We are not part of the NHS but rely on its facilities for x-ray and pathology. We are one of the last real charity hospitals in the country.
For 100 years Consultants from local NHS hospitals have come to St Luke's and given skills and time at no charge, to support the Clergy. Of the 20 Consultants from all specialities who operate from the Hospital only a small number are Anglican. It is immensely gratifying to report that Muslims, Hindus and Jewish Consultants along with many different Christian denominations come to the hospital and work together in a spirit of co-operation and dedication. The support of the Consultants saves the Hospital over £1,000,000 every year.
Can you help the hospital? In 1904 it cost £126 to kit out the operating theatre. Today we can pay that for a single surgical instrument. In 1911 the cost of carbolic to keep the hospital clean for a year was £76. Today we spend that every day keeping the hospital clear of bugs and diseases, and it works. Our cleaners have kept us MRSA free and our wound infection rate is the lowest of any London Hospital.
With more help we can do more. We dearly want to be able to perform more complex surgery, the numbers requiring cataract operations grow and an ageing clergy population must also be catered for. We know we are needed; the Hospital has never been as busy. We know we are valued: we receive hundreds of letters from ex-patients saying so. By being able to treat patients before their diseases become acute, we can get them back into the parish healthier and quicker than if they had to wait for NHS treatment. Or, as they say at the hospital, “help get your vicar back on his knees again as soon as possible”. Visit our website, http://www.stlukeshospital.org.uk/ which details the history of, and the facilities provided by the only free hospital in the country.
