Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust was established in 1994. It is an Acute and Mental Health Services Trust with 350 beds and 1,012 nursing staff.

The Mission Statement for the Hospital is:

To improve the health of children by being a leading centre of excellence in Europe for specialist paediatric services and for research, evaluation and education in the field of child health.

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust and the Institute of Child Health together form the largest paediatric training and research centre in the UK. The two institutions work in partnership to improve the health of children everywhere. The Hospital offers the widest range of paediatric specialties in the country.

It has over 1700 staff and treats over 20,000 children every year. The Institute, since 1996 part of University College London, aims to define the scientific, epidemiological and clinical basis of childhood diseases and to promote child health across the country and internationally. It has over 400 academic staff and 40 professors.

Our hospital first opened its doors on Valentine’s Day 1852 as the Hospital for Sick Children. With only 10 beds, it was the first hospital in the UK dedicated to children.

You can read more about our history and contribution to the development of child healthcare on our history pages.

Today, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH) is a national centre of excellence in the provision of specialist children's healthcare. We currently deliver the widest range of specialities of any children's hospital in the UK.

For a full list of our clinical services see the clinical services page of our website.

We only provide accident and emergency services at the North Middlesex University Hospital site, and do not have a maternity department.

Over 90 per cent of our referrals are tertiary, that is, they come from other healthcare organisations such as local hospitals. Most secondary referrals, that is, from GP services, are to our community services.

Our mission is to provide world-class clinical care and training, pioneering new research and treatments, in partnership with others for the benefit of children in the UK and worldwide.

Our motto, which inspires us in everything we do, is ‘The child first and always’.

Research

The UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) is a paediatric research and development and teaching institute, and is part of UCL’s School of Medical and Life Sciences. GOSH has close, direct links with the Institute, and together we form the largest paediatric research and teaching centre outside the United States. This helps us further our understanding of paediatric healthcare, and to find new cures and treatments for many children’s illnesses.

For more about the research we carry out with the ICH see our Research Review

We are also part of UCL Partners, which brings together five of Britain’s world-renowned medical research centres and hospitals creating Europe’s leading health research powerhouse.

For more information see the UCL Partners website.

In partnerships with local services

Although GOSH provides many regional and national services, we have made significant steps in contributing to the improvement of the health of local children.

We helped found the Children and Young People’s Partnership for Health, where we staff and manage the paediatric services at North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH). We h