London Health Sciences Centre


London Health Sciences Centre is a hospital network in London, Ontario and is collectively one of Canada's largest acute-care teaching hospitals. It was formed in 1995 as a result of the merger of University Hospital and Victoria Hospital. In affiliation with the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, it trains more than 1,800 medical and care professionals annually. It operates two hospital facilities, University Hospital and Victoria Hospital which includes the Children's Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre.

History

, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, officially opened the London General Hospital in 1875. Its legacy as a teaching hospital dates from 1882, when the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Western Ontario was opened at St. James Street. In 1887, there were 60 students, too many for the original site, and a new building was constructed at Waterloo and York Streets.
The biggest of changes came in 1921 after a new building was opened at South and Waterloo Street and in 1965 when the faculty moved to the university campus.
The London General Training School for Nurses opened in 1883 with total of three students. It was the third nursing school opened in Canada. All students were living in the hospital until the Nurses' Residence was opened in 1905. In 1975, the nursing program was transferred to Fanshawe College. Today, with the amalgamation of both the University Hospital campus and Victoria Hospital campus within London Health Sciences Centre, both are educational sites for nursing students from both Fanshawe College and the University of Western Ontario, in addition to public-health, dentistry and medicine students at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and the broader University of Western Ontario Faculty of Graduate Studies.