The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Marsden Hospital is a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London, England. It is an NHS Foundation Trust, and operates facilities on two sites:
 * The Fulham site in Brompton, next to the Royal Brompton Hospital, on Fulham Road.
 * The Sutton site in Belmont, close to Sutton Hospital, Highdown and Downview Prisons.

History
The Royal Marsden was the first hospital in the world dedicated to the study and treatment of cancer. It was founded as the Free Cancer Hospital in 1851 by Dr William Marsden at 1, Cannon Row, Westminster. Marsden, deeply affected by the death of his wife Elizabeth Ann from cancer, resolved to classify tumours, research the causes and find new treatments. The hospital at first consisted solely of a dispensary and the drugs prescribed were palliative and aimed at treating symptoms, but it allowed William Marsden the opportunity to study and research the disease.

The hospital quickly outgrew its original premises as it became apparent that some patients required inpatient care. It moved locations several times during the 1850s until its benefactors decided to find a permanent solution. Funds were raised to build a dedicated new building on Fulham Road, Chelsea and the hospital moved to its new site in 1862.

The hospital was granted its Royal Charter of Incorporation by King George V in 1910 and became known as The Cancer Hospital (Free). This was subsequently changed by King Edward VIII to include the word ‘Royal’ and in 1954 the hospital was renamed The Royal Marsden Hospital in recognition of the vision and commitment of its founder.

When the National Health Service was formed in 1948 the Royal Marsden became a post-graduate teaching hospital. In response to the need to expand to treat more patients and train more doctors, a second hospital in Sutton, Surrey was opened in 1962.

Sutton site history
The original buildings on the Sutton site were first used as the Banstead Road branch of the South Metropolitan District School, which was an Industrial school for children of workhouse inmates in south London. In the 1890s, girls were kept at the Banstead Road site and boys were kept at a site on Brighton Road, which was built in 1851. The Brighton Road site later became Belmont workhouse and Belmont Psychiatric hospital, before being demolished in the 1980s. The Banstead Road site later became a sanatorium, before the southern half of the site was acquired by Royal Marsden in 1962.

Achievements
In 1991 the Royal Marsden became the first NHS hospital to be awarded the Queen’s Award for Technology for its work on drug development. The hospital achieved the international quality standard ISO 9001 for radiotherapy in 1996 and for chemotherapy in 2003. It was recognised as one of six centres of excellence in the Government’s NHS Plan and has achieved four national Charter Marks for all its services, the most recent awarded in 2005. In April 2004, the hospital became one of the country’s first NHS Foundation Trusts. This new status has provided the financial freedom and greater flexibility to focus on allowing more patients to access the hospital's expertise.

Famous physicians

 * Robert Knox
 * Dr Herbert Lumley Snow
 * Dr H T 'Joe' Ford
 * Dr Manuel Lederman

Famous patients
The local press in South London frequently has reports of fundraising activities performed by patients and/or their relatives.
 * John Diamond
 * Benny Green
 * Ray Harford
 * Caroline St John-Brooks