Medical dates:

Medical character:

Hayes Cottage Hospital opened in 1898 in Grange Road to provide medical care for the local populations of Hayes, Harlington and Hillingdon.  The 2-storey red brick building had five beds.

In 1926 the Hospital was enlarged and re-equipped; it then had 15 beds.  The average weekly cost of an in-patient was £3 8s 6d (£3.42) and the average stay for each patient was 14 days.  One average 8 beds were occupied in 1927 (9 in 1928).

In 1928 a District Nurse was appointed to attend residents, free of charge, under medical direction.

In 1928 the local lodges of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (R.A.O.B.) began to raise funds for a new extension so that an X-ray apparatus could be installed.  The new extension was finally built in 1932.

During WW2 the Hospital joined the Emergency Medical Service with 22 beds.  A Gas Decontamination Centre was built in the grounds.

In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS, but its operating theatre was closed on the Appointed Day (5th July).  Its X-ray equipment was also removed and it became a GP hospital for medical cases only, under the control of the Uxbridge Group Hospital Medical Committee, part of the North West Thames Regional Hospital Board.  However, despite having no Out-Patients Department, X-ray or surgical facilities, it retained its Casualty Department for the convenience of the largely industrial area it served.

The patient accommodation was extended in 1952 to 36 beds, although most of the nurses lived out.  There was a small 4-bedded ward for children.  Nine of the chronically sick female patients were under the care of the consultant physicians at Hillingdon Hospital.

A proposed plan to close the Hospital and convert it into a Nurses' Home annexe for Hillingdon Hospital was abandoned in July 1950.

It remained a pleasant, reasonably modern and well-equipped hospital, but could not be filled in the summer by medical cases alone.  In 1956 it was suggested that the Hospital could undertake minor operations to relieve the pressure on Hillingdon Hospital.  This commenced in May 1958 with surgery under the control of, and performed by, the surgical staff of Hillingdon Hospital.

In 1957 the weekly cost of an in-patient was £11 16s 4d (£11.82).

In 1960 a private development of residential properties was built beside the Hospital, but the contractors promised to erect a fence to prevent the Nurses' Home being overlooked.

In 1962 the general wards closed for August and part of September so that building works and redecoration could be carried out.  New bedhead lights were installed, the metal windows replaced and the operating theatre improved with a modern overhead light.

Plans were made to convert the former Gas Decontamination Centre into a new Out-Patients and Casualty Departments.  The conversion was completed in 1965.  In December Mr Arthur Skiffington, M.P., officially opened the new Departments.  The former Casualty Department was converted into a Day Room for the patients.

In 1969 the Penn Clinic, specialising in osteopathy, physiotherapy and acupuncture, was established in the grounds of the Hospital.

In 1974, following a major reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital came under the control of the Hillingdon District Health Authority, part of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority.

By 1976 the Hospital had 55 beds, mainly for geriatric patients, and the District Health Authority was considering its closure to save £120,000 a year.

The Area Heath Authority finally decided to close the Hospital in 1983 but, in a bid to keep it open, the building was occupied by staff members belonging to the health service unions COHSE and NUPE.  The occupation lasted from October to December 1983  (the Northwood and Pinner Cottage Hospital was also occupied at the same time).  In the face of massive public support from the local community, the Area Health Authority backed down and dropped its closure plans, and agreed that any future redevelopment of the site would be for local healthcare use only.

In 1985 the Hospital had 32 beds.

Following another threat of closure in 1990, the Hospital was occupied a second time by the Hillingdon and District branch of COHSE.  However, this time the Hospital closed, although the NHS staff were guaranteed redeployment in other local hospitals.

Present status (June  2008)

The Hospital building was purchased by John Fordham, the Managing Director of Ensemble Healthcare Ltd.  It was converted and extended into a nursing home, known as the Hayes Cottage Nursing Home.  It provides accommodation for 51 residents in 49 single rooms and 1 double room.

In 1996 a detached 2-storey building was built in the grounds to provide a medical clinic with its own parking.

In 2007 Mr Fordham was contacted by the Renal Department of the Hammersmith Hospital to discuss the possibility of building a renal unit in the nursing home grounds.

The plan was agreed and a 2-storey building was constructed from 37 factory-built sections, which had been delivered and craned into position in just four days.  The unit was fitted out with 24 stations in eight weeks, and replaced the smaller 12-station unit at Ashford.

The community-based  Hayes Renal Unit is owned by Ensemble Healthcare Ltd and leased to the NHS.  It was officially opened in March 2008 by John McDonnell, the M.P. for Hillingdon and Harlington, as a satellite renal dialysis unit for the Nephrology Unit of Imperial College.