The Royal Free – the first brand in healthcareJames Sandwith opened the history wall of London’s Royal Free Hospital this week, celebrating the development of Britain’s first hospital to provide free healthcare of the very best quality, a full 120 years before the birth of the NHS. James spoke about the strength of the hospital’s name as “Royal Free” is the perfect distillation of the founder William Marsden’s vision, and a very unusual example of the Victorians creating a succinct and still-modern brand name.Alas it wasn’t always the great name we celebrate today. The hospital was originally called “The London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases”. Rather a good case for a re-brand – but those Victorians beat us to it with a very potent solution. Here’s to The Royal Free – the first brand in healthcare and thank you to David Sloman, chief executive, and Dominic Dodd, chairman of the trust, for inviting James to open their history wall and share in their success.
