London Ambulance Service: A Brief History

On Waterloo Road you will find the headquarters for the London Ambulance Service, which has been in this building since 1973.

On their forecourt you will find three ambulances: a 1949 Daimler DC27, a 1965 Morris LD and a 2004 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Ambulance.

The 1949 Daimler DC27 is one of 120 that were built. This was the first, fleet number A1 and it remained in operation until the late 1950s.

The Morris LD ambulance replaced the Daimler DC27, coming into service in 1965. Shorter, lighter and more manoeuvrable it was better suited to London's congested roads.

The 2004 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter carries far more equipment than any of its predecessors, which only carried a stretcher, oxygen and treatment boxes, as they weren't expected to do much remedial work at the scene.

Affixed to the wall of the headquarters are various information boards which give a history of the service, along with photographs taken throughout the years.

A small well-maintained memorial garden is a space for family, friends and work colleagues of the staff and volunteers who have died, in service or retirement, to come and remember them.

There is also a memorial plaque, which is a copy of a plaster relief sculpted by Station Officer D.M. Thrupp of the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service, in 1941.

In April 2021 a tree was planted, in the memorial garden, to remember London Ambulance Service staff who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year marks 60 years of the London Ambulance Service, as we know it now. So, let us take a look at its remarkable history.

Serving around 8.6 million people, the London Ambulance Service is the busiest ambulance service in the United Kingdom and one of the busiest in the world, employing around 5,300 staff. In a typical year the London Ambulance Service responds to over 2.1 million 999 calls and attends 1.2 million incidents.

'Windrush & Commonwealth NHS Nurses and Midwives Statue' by Dr Jak Beula

At the entrance to the Whittington Hospital, on Magdala Avenue, there is a stylised mother and child statue.

It depicts a mother cradling her newborn baby, with the mother wearing a nurses' fob watch.

This unique statue was commissioned to commemorate the extraordinary efforts of the some 40,000 Windrush and Commonwealth NHS nurses and midwives, who came to the UK between 1948 and 1973 in order to help the newly created NHS.

The statue consists of 16 pieces of granite and is 2.1m in height, width and depth and cost £100,000.

It was unveiled on Friday September 10, 2021.

A worn brass plaque reads:

'The Windrush & Commonwealth NHS Nurses and Midwives Statue' was conceived and designed by Johnny Alexander Bebeula Dodd, aka Dr Jak Beula. 

He named the piece "NICU Suite 16" because of the 16 pieces of granite used to create the statue. 

It is dedicated to all Commonwealth National Health Service staff, notably Nurses and Midwives from Africa and the Caribbean, who have worked in the NHS since its foundation in 1948. 

The Nubian Jak Community Trust thanks Whittington Health NHS Trust and Islington Council for supporting this NHS Memorial. 

Special thanks to Islington BH365, Haringey Council, Ernst & young, Arsenal Football Club, Entain PLC, Havas Group, Aviva, Crowdfunder UK and the generous donations from nursing organisations and the general public for the successful delivery of this statue. May she be a source of inspiration to all NHS staff and provide light,  hope and pride to those who come into contact with this memorial.