War Comes to London Voluntary Hospitals

Available for over a year

Hospital staff from around London describe the steps they have taken to protect patients from the war, including relocating an operating theatre to a basement and burying radium used in medical treatments to protect against radioactivity in the event of a direct hit from a bomb. One matron of Queen Charlotte's Hospital describes how, on hearing an air raid warning, anti-splinter blinds are drawn across the windows, babies are moved to a 'gas refuge room' and mothers are given gas masks along with a cup of tea.