North Manchester General Hospital

History

The extensive hospital site originally included three separate hospitals: Crumpsall Hospital, Springfield Hospital and Delaunays Hospital which included specialist mental health services which are included in the new hospital.

This is now the only hospital in North Manchester, as Ancoats Hospital, Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital, Monsall Hospital and the Northern Hospital were all closed in the latter part of the 20th century. The modern hospital has wings named Monsall Wing, Ancoats Wing and Jewish Victoria Wing, in memory of these former hospitals.

Springfield Hospital

The new Manchester Workhouse, which later became Springfield Hospital, was built in 1855. The architects were Mills and Murgatroyd, and the contractors Robert Neil & Sons of Strangeways. They also designed and built the infirmary. It ceased to be a workhouse in 1930. In 1970 it was amalgamated with the other hospitals mentioned in this article under the North Manchester Hospital Management Committee. In 1883 it was reported that were 347 lunatics in the hospital. One of the inmates complained that he was fed on porridge 14 times a week. Inmates were given a weekly tobacco allowance.

Crumpsall Hospital

Crumpsall Hospital was built in 1876 by the Manchester Poor law union as an infirmary associated with the Workhouse. The original workhouse infirmary was on the site now occupied by Manchester Victoria station and the site was sold to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1875. It cost £137,000, including fitting out. There were seven parallel three-storey ward blocks connecting to a central corridor. It was designed to accommodate 1400 patients. There was also an administration block with a dispensary on the ground floor and an operating theatre on the top floor. The basement contained a laundry and a bakery. Heating was by open fires, but there was piped hot water and gas lighting. Apart from the nurses there were no paid staff. All the other workers came from Springfield workhouse. Men were supplied with corduroy suits with waistcoats, belts, boots and a knotted red spotted handkerchief. Until the 1920s the workhouse women who cleaned the hospital were known as scrubbers. The name, age, prescription and dietary requirements of each patient were written on a notice hung on the wall at the head of the bed.

In 1889 the average temperature on the wards at night during the winter was 58 degrees F. There were at that time three resident medical officers, a visiting surgeon, a visiting physician, and nearly 300 nurses. Patients were fed on milk, porridge, eggs, chops and puddings. If they were allowed out of bed they were given a uniform: white shirt, blue trousers and a blue coat.

A three year training course for nurses was established at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1902 the hospital was recognised as a Midwifery Training School.

In 1914 the hospital was a receiving station firstly for 500 casualties from Belgium. By 1924 there was an X-ray department, ear, eye and dental departments and a chiropody room. There were then 4 or 5 resident medical officers, who usually stayed for about 2 years, rotating through the different specialities. In 1927 a new dispensary and a separate block for operating theatres, X-ray, dental and recovery rooms was built. The Infirmary had 1,440 beds in 1928 with a further 600 in the attached mental department. The patients included both chronic and acute cases and both acute cases and the work of the obstetric and gynaecological department had been increasing. The hospital had a bacteriological and pathological laboratory and was a registered training school for nurses both in general medical and surgical work and in midwifery. in 1929 it became a municipal hospital.

In 1930 a home for 250 nurses, Limbert Home, was built. There were then three senior resident medical officers, and six assistants, dealing with obstetrics, medicine and surgery. Sir Henry Osmond-Clarke was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon in 1936. In 1939 all the maternity cases were evacuated to Blackpool so the hospital could take emergencies. Crumpsall was not damaged in the war, but the Jewish Hospital was hit twice.

In 1951 a nurses sick bay, a premature babies unit and a new Physiotherapy department were opened. In 1952 the hospital was recognised by Manchester University for clinical teaching and some of the senior medical staff were appointed honorary lecturers.

Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital

The Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital was opened in 1904 with 16 beds. By 1928 the number of beds had increased to 62 and at that time a new block containing about 28 beds was being planned. The staff consisted of two resident house surgeons and 12 honorary medical and surgical staff.

Northern Hospital for Women and Children

The Northern Hospital for Women and Children was founded in 1856 as a dispensary in Stevenson Square, Manchester by Dr. August Schoepf Merei and Dr. James Whitehead. In 1867 it moved to a site in the northern suburbs and during the next 70 years expanded progressively until in 1928 it has 22 beds for women patients and 51 cots for children. Further expansion was then planned and Sir Edward Holt, Bart., donated a site at Alms Hill, Cheetham, intended for the construction of a new and larger hospital.

Hospital radio

The hospital has its own radio station, Northern Air hospital radio, that has been broadcasting since 1961.