Overview

The Royal College of Physicians is a professional body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine. There head quarters are opposite Regent's Park. You don't have to be a medical professional to visit. There is small medical museum and gardens which feature medicinal plants which are open Mondays to Fridays and are both free to visit. The College also holds public talks/tours/ events on variety of medical related topics and for these there maybe an admission charge.

Transport & Parking

I travelled on public transport. The nearest tube is Great Portland Street which is not an accessible station, as it has only stairs between platform and street level. Nearest step free tubes are King's Cross and Paddington, from which you can get a bus. From the bus stop it's about a 5 minute walk. The website says there's free, pre-bookable car parking for visitors with a disability.

Access

Platform lift to main entrance and automatic doors. Then there is a lift to take you to the other floors. Outside into the garden there are metal ramps and part of the lawn area is on a slight slope but on the day I visited there were 2 people in wheelchairs doing the garden tour.

Toilets

The toilets are on the lower ground floor accessible by lift. There were 2 accessible toilets. One was a changing room with changing mat and shower. The other was a regular sized accessible toilet. Both had grab rails and red cords. However the red cord in the changing room toilet was short.

Staff

Staff were very welcoming. When I went downstairs and asked where there was seating the person serving the drinks immediately went to bring me one of the seats behind the table. The staff serving drinks were very helpful. Later I spoke to the member of staff in the cloakroom, as they were the first person I saw after I had used the accessible toilets. When I reported to them about the red cord being too short they asked me to inform reception, so I went upstairs and reported it for a second time to a member of staff. The receptionist said she would follow it up. It would have been appreciated if the first person I reported it too had been more proactive and took it upon themselves to follow up my comments about the emergency cord being too short.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The College is a real hidden gem for anyone interested in medicine. The museum is fascinating. The gardens are extremely pleasant to explore, with a main garden and several smaller adjacent gardens especially as some of the gardens are very sheltered and they have some plants that don't usually grow well in the UK. I attended an afternoon about plants that kill. There were 2 excellent lectures, both were suitable for members of the public with a general interest in the topic. The event was extremely well organised. There were drinks before the talks, in the interval and at the end of the second talk. Plus there were several people taking small sized groups round the garden and talking about the poisonous plants. The cost of the event was £10, which was remarkable good value for what was offered and the whole experience made a wonderful afternoon out. Big thank you to the College for organising it. Please note although usually open Mondays to Fridays there are occasional weekend openings, such as during Open House or Open Garden Squares.

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