St. Charles Hospital

In 1971 I was admited to the Hospital in the Grove, with Bacterial Miningitis. A dedicated and atentive staff got me through it. In two weeks i returned back to my flat (An American visitor at that time). It took me several years to recover fully.
I was and I am a poor man. In leaving the hospital I thought even for me there must be somthing I can do for these fine dedicated people and this hospital. I bought what I belive was the first Telivision and the license for it [A 3 year license and a down payment on any possible repairs to be covered in full].
I still play music (Of course not many like what I do «o-​well.
I will never forget the Doctors and nurses, nor the spiritual cathorises of that event and recovery.
WITH DEEP APRECIATION AND LOVE-​SALUTE.
I was 24 then. I am 66 now. Handsom loving and healthy!!!
I am indebted to the English Health service. God willing one day I shall re-​pay you.
In all sincerety PEACE LOVE JOY PROSPERITY!

I ended up dropping by St Charles in the middle of the night after being struck by the fever from hell caused by a bad infection. After calling the off-​hours med service, I got a ring back from the doctor at St Charles about 5 minutes after I had left my details. He suggested that I go to St Charles to pick up my prescription and off I went at 3am. The hospital is under lots of construction, which caused some confusion as the scaffolding covered part of the main reception area, but once I got inside, the receptionist was expecting me and directed me to the doctor’s office. I was surprised to find no queue as my experience in the US with any sort of 24 hour facility was that you’d be sitting around for hours, with a roomful of other sick people.
But in this case, the doctor was waiting and we chatted for about 5 minutes before he sent me on my way with some happy antibiotics. It was possibly the most painless interaction with a public hospital that I’ve ever encountered in my life. If this is NHS at work, then I don’t know what people are always complaining about!

St Charles Hospital is tucked away in North Kensington and not many people know about the fantastic Minor Injuries Unit and the wonderful staff that work there. I work locally and had a bad accident. One of my colleagues took me to the MIU and I was seen almost immediately by friendly, welcoming staff who patched me up and made sure I was OK to return to work. I noticed that there is a lot of building work going on here and was told that a new community hospital being built here and in the future there will be everything from x-​rays to GP surgeries to blood testing — this sounds really good as I hate running around several different places for a simple problem!