Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Story

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service (NHS) hospital in Aylesbury, England. It is part of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.The hospital's National Spinal Injuries Centre is one of the largest specialist spinal units in the world, and the pioneering rehabilitation work carried out there by Sir Ludwig Guttmann led to the development of the Paralympic Games. Mandeville, one of the official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London, was named in honour of the hospital's contribution to Paralympic sports.HistoryIn the early 1830s the village of Stoke Mandeville was badly affected by cholera epidemics that swept across England. A cholera hospital was established on the parish border between Stoke Mandeville and Aylesbury. It was founded with monies provided by both parishes, but was built separately from both places as cholera was very contagious and the inhabitants were anxious to avoid infection.By the start of the twentieth century the hospital had developed into an infectious diseases hospital, treating all infections, not just cholera. However the town of Aylesbury was growing, and the distance between the town and the hospital was getting smaller, and before long people with infectious diseases could no longer be treated at the hospital because the risk of infecting the local community was too great.