The
London Lock Hospital, which opened on 31 January 1747, was the first
venereal disease clinic and the most famous and first of the
Lock Hospitals. The Lock Hospitals were developed for the treatment of
syphilis following the end of the use of
lazar hospitals, as
leprosy declined. The hospital later developed maternity and gynaecology services before being incorporated into the
National Health Service in 1948, and finally closed in 1952.