Brighton hospital building to be named after city's first female GP

The new £483 million Louisa Martindale Building at the Royal Sussex County Hospital will be home to over 30 wards and departments and be kitted with state-of-the-art facilities.

Her name was one of 690 suggestions submitted during the selection process, with the NHS asking residents to put forward their own ideas to name the building, which is due to open next spring.

During her career, she led the way in the use of radium to treat gynaecological cancers, as well as working in France as a surgeon during the First World War and in London during the Second.

Argus readers supported the suggestion during the consultation, with Sandra Vincent saying she would be a fitting person to be honoured in such a way.

Louisa Martindale was the city's first ever female GP and was a pioneer in medicine (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Karen Geoghegan, chief finance officer at University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I’m really delighted that we can recognise Lousia Martindale in this way - she was a pioneer in medicine, in surgery, and in primary care, and a local figure that we can be hugely proud of in Sussex.

“The consultation process produced a large number of brilliant suggestions, including honouring many people who have achieved amazing things in the field of healthcare, but we felt that Louisa Martindale was a truly deserving figure, and we are so proud that our fantastic new building can honour her work and her life.”

The 11-storey building will provide a significantly improved hospital environment for patients, families and staff.

Some of the services which will be provided in the Louisa Martindale Building will be moved in from the neighbouring Barry Building, which dates back to 1828.

One of the single en-suite rooms at the new medicine ward

Further work is still required to finish preparing the building itself, and then around 16,000 items of equipment and furniture will be moved in and the building thoroughly cleaned ready for patients.

Peter Larsen-Disney, the clinical lead for the building project, said: “We understand just how much work remains to be done before we can start moving patients and staff into the Louisa Martindale Building, but we can also see how fantastic this facility will be.

“Patients and staff have waited many years for this, and it will mean better care, and a better experience for patients and visitors and a transformed working environment for staff.”

Who was Louisa Martindale?

Born in 1872 in Essex, Louisa Martindale moved to Brighton with her family in 1885 and attended Brighton High School for Girls.

After gaining her Doctor of Medicine in 1906, she started her own general practice and was instrumental in the setting up of the New Sussex Hospital for Women in Windlesham Road in Brighton.

Alongside her illustrious career in medicine, she also served as a magistrate, prison commissioner and member of the National Council for Women.

Louisa retired from practice in 1947, after carrying out over 7,000 operations, and died at her home in London in 1966 at the age of 93.