The Old Operating Theatre

Today I went to London as I had organised an event for the arts society at school. It was a visit to the old operating theatre of St Thomas Hospital followed by a walk around Southwark.

The old operating theatre is now part of a museum and it offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery. It is situated in the attic of the old church of St Thomas Hospital which was originally used to dry and store herbs for patients' medicines and in 1822 an operating theatre was included. Predating anaesthetics and antiseptics, it is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe. This image is of the herb garret showing what was used in medicine predating the drugs we know today.

The theatre was very small and surrounded by spectator seating for other doctors to observe and learn from the procedures. The most common procedures carried out here were amputations and lithotomic procedures (removing bladder stones). A skilled surgeon could amputate a limb in 30 seconds! As there was no anaesthesia in Victorian times, the surgeon had to work as quickly as possible to reduce the pain. Ironically when the anaesthesia was first used (usually ether) the surgeon could slow down the procedure and consequently more people died as the risk of exposure to unsterile conditions increased due to the longer time in the theatre. I have added an extra of the opertaing theatre and you can see how small it is. Everything was made of wood which was not at all sterile.

Following this talk we went on a walk around Southwark to describe what conditions were like for the people living there and with no public health it became the prime area for cholera. Unfortunately it was raining heavily (and was very cold) by the time we went on the walking tour which spoilt it a bit. London was a filthy place with the river being a cesspool of sewage!

A very interesting morning and it made me very grateful for the advances in medicine that we benefit from today!