Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1940 Tolmers Park, a large mansion house to the northeast of Cuffley, was purchased by the East Ham Borough Council for use as a home for aged and sick people evacuated from East London because of the war.  The building, which stood in large, picturesque grounds, had previously been a private girls' school but had been vacant for the previous three years.

During the war several bombs fell near the estate, but the house was not damaged.

In 1948 the home joined the NHS under the control of the Northern Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.  It became the geriatric unit for the Group and was renamed Tolmers Park Hospital.  It had 88 beds in 3 large and 9 small wards.  Its patients were referred mainly from the Boroughs of Islington and St Pancras.

In 1963 the Hospital transferred to the control of the Barnet Group Hospital Management Committee as a consequence of the fusion of the Archway and Northern Groups, which became the North London Group.

In 1966 the Hospital had 80 beds for chronically sick elderly patients.

Following a major reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, the Hospital came under the administration of the East Hertfordshire District Health Authority, part of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority.  In 1975 it had 80 beds.

The Hospital closed in 1981 with 67 beds.

Present status (September 2009)

The property had been sold in November 1980 for £288,000.  The mansion and its coach house and stables have been converted into luxury residences.