Our history

1872

Wingfield Convalescent Home was opened on the site now occupied by the NOC. It was funded by public donations, principally £1,545 from Mrs Hannah Wingfield, who did not live to see the project completed.

1914

The home became an auxiliary hospital to the Third Southern General Hospital at the outbreak of the first world war. The increase in patients led to wooden huts being built in the grounds, including orthopaedic workshops due to the nature of many of the injuries.

1921

The home officially became an orthopaedic hospital.

1924

The buildings were improved and the home became an open air hospital, with 125 beds and three private wards.

1930

A donation of some £70,000 from William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) made the rebuilding of the hospital possible.

1933

The Prince of Wales officially opened the Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital

1937

G R Girdlestone, who treated patients during the first world war, became the first British Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1937.

1948

The hospital became part of the newly founded NHS.

1950

Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital was renamed the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC). It became the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust on 1 April 1991. The Trust merged with the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust on 1 November 2011 to form the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.