[1] On 15 December 2010, the joint committee of PCTs voted unanimously to close the accident & emergency and maternity departments despite local public opposition.

The wards are named after plants and trees; Ash, Beech, Cedar Centre, Clover, Dahlia, Elm Breast Care Unit, Erica, Fern, Gardenia, Gentian, Heather, Iris, Jasmine, Japonica and Juniper.

[3] The Cedar Centre is stopping providing chemotherapy for cancer patients in November 2018 due to staff shortage.

Tom Sandford of the Royal College of Nursing said, “The loss of the chemotherapy service at the Cedar Centre is a serious blow to patient care at a time when the government’s referral target for urgent cancer treatment has not been met for five years.

The fact a specialist unit such as this has been forced to close its doors to people needing chemotherapy is the starkest evidence yet that the nurse staffing crisis is jeopardising safe patient care, with almost 42,000 nurse vacancies in England alone.”[4] The emergency and urgent care centre at the hospital is run by the Partnership of East London Cooperatives, an Industrial and Provident Society made up of GPs, patient representatives and other health professionals.