The hospital has its origins in temporary premises which opened as the Boston Cottage Hospital in 1872.[1] A purpose-built facility designed by William Henry Wheeler was built in Bath Gardens between 1874 and 1875.[2] Additions included an outpatients' department completed in 1926, a nurses' home in 1934 and a maternity wing in 1936.[2] The facility joined the National Health Service in 1948.[1]
The first hospital in Boston, Boston Cottage Hospital, opened in September 1872, in two small cottages on Stanbow Lane; it cost £200 a year, and treated around 50 people in the first year.[3]
The design was agreed in January 1963. Phase 1 involved 115 in-patient beds, the outpatients, a single-storey A&E and X-ray, and Physical Medicine. The five-storey 72-bed maternity department would be built in this phase, but would be initially part of outpatients, until the whole hospital had been later completed. The former maternity unit was at Boston General and Wyberton West (owned by the county council) hospitals.[5]
There would be residential accommodation for around 150 nursing staff, to the north of the site, costing around £150,000.[6]
The hospital name was chosen at a meeting in September 1967 at Holbeach Hospital; this name was chosen, as a snappy title would save significant time over the telephone, and avoid confusion. Many other possible names were rejected.[7][8]
Around 23 student nurses joined the Boston School of Nursing, each year.[9]
The first phase replaced Boston General Hospital, on South End, and Boston London Road Hospital. The casualty department at the general hospital was moved to the London Road Hospital in November 1967.[12]
The inauguration of construction work was performed on 11 June 1968, by the Earl of Ancaster, with four hundred guests. The construction work employed around 1,000 people. In 1968 it was estimated that the first phase would cost £3m, and the second phase would cost £3.3m. The hospital would cost £1.25m to run.[13][14]
The ceremony was attended by the architect, George Grenfell-Baines, and the Bishop of Grantham, Ross Hook, who gave a prayer. When the new hospital opened, the hospitals in Spalding and Holbeach were planned close, and the local councils made protests; however, because of the protests, the hospitals were not closed.[15]
The boiler house, the first section to be built, had three boilers, with a 165-ft chimney.[5]
Some 400 friction piles, driven 30 feet deep, were used for the construction of the main ten-storey block. The residential block was mostly complete by the end of 1968.[16]
The first part of the hospital opened on 9 March 1970 - when the outpatients, and X-ray department, moved from Boston General Hospital. The hospital labs opened on 2 March 1970, one week earlier.[17]
The bus service to the hospital, in March 1970, was not adequate.[18]
The maternity unit opened on 19 November 1970,[20] with the first birth being a C-section of a woman from Spalding.[21]
The first main phase of the new hospital, named after the town's Pilgrim Fathers, was meant to open on 3 January 1971, with the transfer of the X-ray department,[22] but this phase only opened on 28 February 1971.[23][24][25] The other Boston hospitals were not planned to close until late 1974. Three hundred babies had been born at the new hospital by March 1971, with 400 staff at the hospital.[26]
Construction (Phase 2)
At the end of June 1971, the £3m contract for the second phase was awarded to F. G. Minter, of London; Minter had built the BBC Broadcasting House in 1932. The other departments were planned to open in early 1975. The design of phase 2 included a three-storey building with the School of Nursing on the second floor, and four operating theatres on the third floor.[27]
In May and June 1971, the A&E was short of medical staff overnight, so local GPs volunteered to staff the A&E at night.[28]
Construction of phase 2 began on 12 July 1971.[29]
It was originally hoped to have the full hospital opened during 1975, which was delayed to April or May in 1976, but by August 1976, the ten-storey main block hospital of the hospital was not scheduled to open until 5 September 1976.[30]
Running costs would be £5.5m per year. There were to be fifteen private patient beds, but only nine were eventually included in 1976. The entrance had a general shop, and bank branch. The kitchens would serve 1,500 meals per day. The main operating theatre suite, in the three-storey building, opened on 24 October 1976. There were 531 nursing staff. Staff from the London Road hospital moved by 21 November 1976. It took up to twelve months for all facilities to move to the new hospital from former hospitals. Furniture cost £731,000.[31][32]
The new facility was officially opened by Princess Anne on 23 June 1977, arriving by helicopter at 2.15pm at Boston High School.[33][34] The chief constable of Lincolnshire Police also attended. There was a short service by the Bishop of Grantham.[35][36]
Construction (Phase 3)
On 25 April 1989, Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester opened the Phase 3 development, travelling to Boston with the Queen's Flight. There was a £4.3m psychiatry department.[37][38][39] Sir Michael Carlisle attended, and the Bishop of Grantham said a prayer.[40]
Recent history
The £2.1 million medical education centre was built in late 1992 by Lindum Construction (for the Trent Regional Health Authority).[41] It was later renovated by Taylor Pearson of Woodhall Spa in April 2008.[42]
The Prince of Wales visited the hospital on 17 March 1992, having earlier opened the Waterside Centre in Lincoln, flying in by helicopter.[43][44][45][46]
In 2010, the Energy Centre was overhauled. Cofely (part of GDF Suez) installed a 526 kWe engine-based CHP, supplied by GE Jenbacher. It was supplemented by a 2.9 MW woodchip-fuelled biomass steam boiler, supplied by Binder of Austria, with further conventional dual fuel steam boilers. The wood chips are locally sourced from Thetford Forest.[50]
A series of four matrons who had trained at The London Hospital under Eva Luckes ran the original cottage hospital in Boston for over fifteen years.[52]
Evelyn Newman, 1901 until at least 1911.[52][58][59]
Facilities
View from the rear
The main part of the hospital consists of a ten-storey building. It has twenty wards and has a busy maternity unit. Just north of the building there is a helicopter landing pad, used by the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.[60]
An innovative way of managing hip fractures developed since May 2012, has seen the hospital recognised as the best in the country for treating patients with broken hips with 30 day mortality of 6% compared with a national average of 9% and an average length of stay of 11.6 days compared with a national figure of 23 days.[61]
The Care Quality Commission raised concerns about the treatment of children in the emergency department, and about the early detection of critically ill patients.[62]
Leasowe is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. Located on the north coast of the Wirral Peninsula, it is approximately 2 mi (3.2 km) to the west of Wallasey.
Moorfields Eye Hospital is a specialist National Health Service (NHS) eye hospital in Finsbury in the London Borough of Islington in London, England run by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Together with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, which is adjacent to the hospital, it is the oldest and largest centre for ophthalmic treatment, teaching and research in Europe.
The Liverpool Royal Infirmary was a hospital in Pembroke Place in Liverpool, England. The building is now used by the University of Liverpool.
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, commonly known as the Mater, is a teaching hospital, on Eccles Street in Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland. It is managed by Ireland East Hospital Group.
St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust.
Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) is the nursing branch of the British Royal Air Force.
Spalding High School (SHS) is a grammar school for girls and a mixed sixth form located in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England.
City Hospital was a major hospital located in Birmingham, England, operated by the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. It provided an extensive range of general and specialist hospital services. It is located in the Winson Green area of the west of the city.
The London Fever Hospital was a voluntary hospital financed from public donations in Liverpool Road in Islington, London. It was one of the first fever hospitals in the country.
Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) is the nursing branch of the British Royal Navy. The Service unit works alongside the Royal Navy Medical Branch.
Cromer and District Hospital opened in 1932 in the suburb of Suffield Park in the town of Cromer within the English county of Norfolk. The hospital is run by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and provides an important range of acute consultant and nurse-led services to the residents of the district of North Norfolk.
The Hospital of St Cross is a National Health Service hospital on Barby Road, in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, managed by the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. It is on the south edge of Rugby above a steep slope running down to the Sow Brook valley.
Lincoln County Hospital is a large district general hospital on the eastern edge of north-east Lincoln, England. It is the largest hospital in Lincolnshire, and offers the most comprehensive services, in Lincolnshire. It is managed by the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
St Leonard's Hospital is a hospital in Hoxton, London.
The Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases was a hospital that existed in west London from 1867 to 1993.
Liverpool Women's Hospital is a major obstetrics, gynaecology and neonatology research hospital in Liverpool, England. It is one of several specialist hospitals located within the Liverpool City Region, alongside Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, the Walton Centre, Mersey Regional Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. It is managed by the Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital receives approximately 50,000 patients annually and is the largest hospital for its specialism in Europe.
Highgate Hospital was a name used to refer to the infirmary building which opened in 1869 on the St Pancras side of Dartmouth Park Hill in Highgate, London.
Susan Bell McGahey was the matron of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from 1891 to 1904. McGahey was also co-founder of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association in 1899 and president of the International Council of Nurses from 1904 to 1909.
The Grove Hospital, originally the Grove Fever Hospital, was a hospital for infectious diseases opened in Tooting Grove, London.
The Bromhead Institution for Nurses and the Bromhead Nursing Home, was a healthcare facility in Lincoln.
1 2 3 4 5 Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons'? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
↑ Kathleen Disney, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/1, 99; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
↑ "Appointments". Nursing Mirror. 21 (545): 208. 6 March 1897.
↑ Matron’s Annual Letter to Nurses, No.7, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.7, February 1900, 20; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London.
↑ Matron’s Annual Letter to Nurses, No.8, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.8, March 1901, 22; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
