The London Jewish Hospital Association was formed in 1907 with the aim of establishing a hospital to serve the needs of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. 

Funds for the hospital were raised by penny and sixpenny donations from the Jewish poor. The association bought a plot of land and recruited doctors and other staff, and were ready to start building a hospital by 1916. However, the demand for doctors for the armed forces was then so great that the project was delayed until after the First World War. The hospital finally opened in Stepney Green with facilities for outpatients in 1919.