Kaiserswerther Diakonie is an Evangelical community of deaconesses founded in 1836 by Pastor Theodor Fliedner. Here women received training in caregiving and child-rearing and lived a life of discipline and prayer. The institution included a hospital, a school, and a shelter. In 1851, Florence Nightingale, who later established the modern system of nursing in Great Britain, completed an internship here. The Kaiserswerth model spread throughout Europe, America and Russia. Today, the Diakonie remains an active institution, and its building houses a Pflegemuseum (Museum of Nursing) and a hotel in the Mutterhaus.

Barts Museum in the City of London is Britain's oldest working hospital on its original site, founded in 1123 by Rahere. Housed in the Grade I listed North Wing, it reopened in October 2025 after a £5.3m restoration. Entry is free. Highlights include the Great Hall, Hogarth's murals, and the Henry VIII Gatehouse with London's only public statue of the king. Famous names: Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Blackwell, James Paget. Literary link: Sherlock Holmes met Dr Watson here. Nearby: St Bartholomew-the-Great church and Smithfield Market. 

In the depths of Tuscany, Siena during the Renaissance laid on a busy Via Francigena, trade and regligiouse route connecting Western and Northern Italy and Europe with Rome. Opposite the majestic Siena Cathedral, Santa Maria della Scala is a remarkable testimony to the history of medicine of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Founded as early as the ninth century, this institution was more than just an ordinary hospital - it was a beacon of hope and compassion for weary pilgrims making the arduous journey along the Via Francigena to Rome and further to the Holy Land. What began as a simple orphanage grew into one of Europe's most famous hospitals, caring not only for pilgrims but also for sick, destitute and abandoned children. By the 12th century it had established itself as a leading centre of medical care, pioneering techniques that shaped the future of medicine in the region. One of the most striking sights of Santa Maria della Scala is the Pellegrinaio Hall (Pilgrims' Hall), whose colourful frescoes depict medical and charitable activities.

St Thomas’ Hospital, founded c. 1100 in Southwark, was relocated in 1862 due to railway expansion. Its current  building (1872) at the Thames-side site opposite of the Westminster Palace, designed by Henry Currey was laid by Queen Victoria. In 1860, Nightingale founded Britain’s first nursing school at St. Thomas’s, which today is part of King’s College London. The hospital’s Central Hall houses a free mini-museum dedicated to the hospital’s history, and the new wing is home to the Florence Nightingale Museum.