sample itinerary

public health system

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HEALTHCARE STUDIES

An opportunity to examine several hundred years of the development of public health in England

From it's crowded medieval beginnings, to the disease ridden slums of the Industrial Revolution through to a brand new government initiative which will plot the future of the country's public health policy well into the 21st century. As always, this is our suggested program, but we will custom every aspect to suit the needs of any class and faculty requirement.

Program Highlights

Hotel Stay: 6 Nights

Meals: 6 breakfasts, 2 dinners

Accomodations

Windsor Castle, Dr. John Snow Walking Tour, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Hunterian Museum, The Wellcome Collection, St. Thomas Hospital, Excursion to Cambridge, Crossness Pumping Station, Royal College of Nursing, AIDS Charity and Clinic

Sightseeing & Seminars

Airport-hotel transfers

Hotel and local taxes

Touring by deluxe private motorcoach, services of a professional tour manager.

Also Included

Sample Itinerary

Day One

Depart U.S.

Overnight flight from US to London.

DAY two
Arrive in London.

Tour Windsor

Morning arrival at Heathrow. Meet your Select Travel Service tour manager. Departing the airport we make the journey to the town of Windsor, best known for its royal castle. The castle has a colored history since its founding in the 11th century. King John rested here before signing the Magna Carta. Charles I was imprisoned here before losing his head, Queen Victoria mourned her Albert and the Royal Family used it as a refuge in World War II and then tragically partially destroyed by fire in 1992. With in excess of 1,000 rooms we will see the just a few including the Royal State Apartments. There will be time to see the town itself before continuing into central London by mid afternoon for check in and unpacking. Gather together again for an early dinner before retiring for the night.

Day Three

London and
John Snow

A recent poll, British doctors voted 19th century Dr. John Snow the greatest doctor of all time. It was his pioneering techniques of mapping the spread of disease which led to among other things, the discovery that cholera is spread via contaminated water and food. His medical mapping techniques are the foundation of today's understanding of the spread of diseases such as AIDS. We take a 3 hour walking tour following in the steps of Dr. Snow as he tracked the 1849 cholera outbreak along the River Thames and identified the offending water pump located on Broadwick Street. Your guide will also detail Dr. Snow's other work on calculating the correct dosage of ether and chloroform to be successfully used in surgery. 

This afternoon we take relaxed look at St. Paul's Cathedral, the second largest in the world (St. Peters is first) and location for the funeral of Florence Nightingale. The cathedral has recently completed a multi million pound restoration.

Day Four

The Wellcome Collection & Hunterian Museum

This morning we visit the Wellcome Collection.  A unique museum which challenges visitors to rethink how they view their health and healthcare in general.  The galleries connect science, medicine, life and art in thought provoking and unusual ways. 

Afternoon visit to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.  At its heart, the museum is a magnificent collection of 18th century surgeon John Hunter.  Collections include human and non human anatomical and pathological specimens.  Following 5 years of extensive expansion and refurbishment, the museum will reopen its doors in early 2023.

Day Five

Cambridge

A seat of academic learning since the 13th century, historically the population of Cambridge has suffered from the city's unfortunate location in the midst of low lying waterways and marshes of the surrounding Fenlands. Medieval Cambridge was crowded and susceptible to frequent outbreaks of the Plague, Typhoid, dysentery and other diseases borne from unsanitary conditions. Our walking tour of the city will include sites associated with the development of the city's improvement in public health such as St. John's College home to the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist which cared for the impoverished and elderly. In 1895 the city established a state of the art pumping station which was so successful, it remained in operation until 1968. 

Also see Old Addenbrookes Hospital which began with a staff of just six. Hobson's Conduit was constructed in the early 17th century and was revolutionary for its era, for the fist time bringing fresh water into the city from nearby springs. Prior to this time the only liquid refreshment thought safe to drink was beer, hence the large number of breweries which survive even today.

We visit the Public Bath house which offered personal hygiene facilities to the working classes. Finally we visit the home of bio-chemistry Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins whose breakthrough science in essence discovered vitamins. Twenty years later a fellow colleague Dr Elsie Widdowson oversaw the first ever compulsory addition of a substance to food, calcium to bread. She was also responsible for formulating war-time food rationing when ironically many say the British population was at its peak health living on a diet of vegetables, bread and potatoes. Late afternoon return to London.

Day Six

Sewers and Nursing

This morning we visit Crossness Pumping Station, constructed as part of the solution to London's "Big Stink" and the integral system of sewers commissioned by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. It was a system designed to combat the problem of raw sewage dumping into the River Thames. Typical of its time, the station itself was something of an art piece with ornate iron work built around a central Octagon. 

This afternoon we tour the Royal College of Nursing or the Queen's Nursing Institute. The RCN represents nurses and promotes the excellence of nursing practices and helps shape modern day public health policy. 

The Queens Nursing Institute, a charitable organization dedicated to improving the home bases nursing care.

Day Seven

Clinic Visit

This morning we visit a charitable clinic dedicated to the ongoing treatment and care of an at-risk population, suffering with AIDS.

This afternoon is available for final independent study or sightseeing. Tonight we gather for a traditional pub dinner and opportunity to discuss our thoughts on what we have seen this week.

Day Eight

Return Home

Regrettably this morning we bid farewell to England and journey to Heathrow for our return flight home.