The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children was founded in London in 1852 as the first hospital specifically for children in the English-speaking world. Now an NHS Trust, it is still world-renowned for its pioneering work in children's medicine. Due to its emotive appeal and numerous television appearances, it is possibly the most famous hospital in the United Kingdom.
The hospital works with the Institute for Child Health and is the largest centre for research into childhood illness outside the United States, and a major international trainer of doctors and nurses. It has the widest range of children's specialists of any UK hospital, and is the largest centre for children's heart or brain surgery, or children with cancer, in the UK. Recent high profile breakthroughs include successful gene therapy for immune diseases, following a decade of research.
The hospital was the recipient of playwright J.M. Barrie's copyright to Peter Pan, giving the institution control of the rights to the work, and entitling it to royalties from any performance or publication of the play and derivative works. When the copyright expired 50 years after Barrie's death (in 1987), the UK government granted the hospital a perpetual right to collect royalties on the work. Peter Pan certainly remains in copyright in the European Union but the status of the copyright in the United States is disputed.
In 2002 Great Ormond Street commenced a redevelopment program which is budgeted at £312 million and is scheduled to be complete by 2008.
Museum and archive
Great Ormond Street's museum and archive is open by appointment. It covers the history and personalities connected with the hospital since its inception in 1852. The Peter Pan Gallery houses editions of the book from all over the world, in many languages.
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