Our History

The Trust logo is derived from the brick statue at the front of the hospital which represents the family surrounded by 'caring hands'. The statue was commissioned as a welcome to the hospital in 1991 as part of the Phase 3 extension to the hospital. It was installed in 1994, initially at the first roundabout of the hospital grounds and then moving to its current position at the front entrance. It was erected in time for the official opening of Phase 3 by the Queen in December 1994. This was also the year that our NHS Trust status was made official.

The artist, John McKenna, was given a brief to provide a welcome to the hospital site. At the time John lived in the West Midlands and had a young family, parents and grandparents. His idea for the work is based on the extended family unit, with the caring hands representing the hospital's foundation and its roots in caring for the health of our community.

The bricks were inspired by local industry at that time, such as car manufacture and coal mining, and on 'Stanley's brick yard' which used to be in the area. Reginald Stanley was part of the group of local business men who funded the first hospital in Nuneaton (Manor Hospital), which housed Accident & Emergency, Outpatients, Children's, and Orthopaedic wards until they moved to the George Eliot site in 1993 and into the newly built Phase 3 extension.

The Hospital was named after the famous woman author, 'George Eliot', who was an English novelist, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.