Bethlem Royal Hospital

Bethlem Royal Hospital
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Shown in Bromley
Geography
Location	Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, London, England
Organisation
Care system	National Health Service
Type	Specialist
Services
Emergency department	No
Beds	Approx 350
Speciality	Psychiatric hospital
History
Opened	1247 as priory 1330 as hospital
Links
Website	slam.nhs.uk/bethlem-royal-hospital
Lists	Hospitals in England

Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and TV series, most notably Bedlam, a 1946 film with Boris Karloff.

The hospital is part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. It is closely associated with King's College London and, in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, is a major centre for psychiatric research. It is part of the King's Health Partners academic health science centre and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health.

Founded in 1247, the hospital was originally located just outside the city walls, in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London. It moved a short distance to Moorfields in 1676, and then to St George's Fields in Southwark in 1815, before moving to its current location in Monks Orchard in 1930.

The word "bedlam", meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from the hospital's nickname. Although the hospital became a modern psychiatric facility, historically it was representative of the worst excesses of asylums in the era of lunacy reform.