Forster Green Hospital was a non-acute hospital located in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It offered a range of services including

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

, care of older people, and a child and family centre. The hospital was located on a 47-acre site in South Belfast. It was managed by the

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) is a health organisation covering Belfast, Northern Ireland. The trust is one of five new trusts which were created on 1 April 2007 by the then Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safe ...

and closed in 2012. Located within the hospital grounds is the regional child and adolescent mental health inpatients unit, Beechcroft. This opened in 2010. Knockbreda Wellbeing and Treatment centre is also located within the grounds of Forster Green and opened in 2009. This has been described as a "one stop approach" to healthcare as it offers a wide range of healthcare services for the local community including

general practice General practice is the name given in various nations, such as the United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to the services provided by general practitioners. In some nations, such as the US, similar services may be describe ...

and

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

History

The hospital was founded by

Forster Green Forster Green was the founder of Forster Green and Company, a leading firm of tea and coffee merchants in Northern Ireland and the benefactor of Forster Green Hospital, a non-acute hospital in South Belfast, Northern Ireland. Career Forster Gree ...

, a tea and coffee merchant who purchased Fortbreda House and the surrounding grounds for a total sum of £11,000 in 1895 with the plan to build a hospital specifically for the treatment of consumption and chest complaints. Green was aware of the challenges posed by the setting up and running of a hospital as he was a life governor of the

Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast The Royal Victoria Hospital commonly known as "the Royal", the "RVH" or "the Royal Belfast", is a hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is managed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. The hospital has a Regional Virus Centre, which ...

. At the time one of the only treatments for tuberculosis was access to fresh air, this was one of the reasons why the Fortbreda site, with its location at the time being outside the city in relative countryside, was a perfect location for a consumption unit. Over the subsequent two years the site was developed and on 30 September 1897 Forster Green Hospital for Consumption and Chest Diseases opened. In the early years the main purpose of the hospital was as a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

. This meant that most of the patients in the hospital were long term patients who had tuberculosis (TB) or related respiratory illnesses. Before the discovery of

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...

s the main methods used to treat TB were; exposure to fresh air, rest, and surgery to remove infected parts of the lung- this was seen as a last effort to control the disease. The large amount of open space on the Forster Green site and the fact it was located outside of the city centre meant that it was the ideal location for the desired non-interventional treatment options. Over the next 20 years, the hospital steadily grew in size and in 1925 the first x-ray machine was acquired for the hospital- this was used for the diagnosis of thoracic disease and also to help guide treatment. In 1933 the hospital opened a new wing, this increased bed numbers but more notable was that the new wing had operating theatres, this allowed surgical treatment of chest diseases to occur on site. In 1945 the x-ray machinery was upgraded, this boosted the hospitals diagnostic repertoire. Upon the nationwide introduction of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948, the hospital name was officially changed to Forster Green Hospital. A new

thoracic surgery Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease), lungs (lung disease), and other pleural or mediastinal stru ...

unit was approved for development in 1953 and was finished and operational in 1955, this increased number of surgeries than could be performed in the hospital. Three years later in 1958 a newly built administration unit was opened, this helped better organise the daily workings of the hospital- this building was acquired by the Belfast Trust

Dietetics A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ...

Service in 2008. The regional medical physics service in Belfast was located at the hospital for a period of time. Also, in 1958 laboratory services were added to the site along with a mortuary. The mortuary was taken over by the Belfast Trust in 1973, becoming the Belfast City Mortuary and was subsequently relocated to the Royal Victoria Hospital in 2008 to a new forensic mortuary building. A change of direction in the hospital's history occurred in 1983 with the closure of the respiratory medicine wards and radiology department with these services being moved to the recently opened

Belfast City Hospital The Belfast City Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Chathair Bhéal Feirste) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a 900-bed modern university teaching hospital providing local acute services and key regional specialities. Its distinctive orange tower block d ...

tower block. The thoracic surgery unit was also closed this year and relocated to the Royal Victoria Hospital. Upon the closure of wards specific to

geriatrics Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek language, Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατ ...

Belvoir Park Hospital Belvoir Park Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Pháirc Belvoir) was a cancer treatment specialist hospital situated in Newtownbreda, South Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belvoir Park held Northern Ireland's only radiotherapy unit, until the opening of a new ca ...

Musgrave Park Hospital Musgrave Park Hospital is a specialist hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in orthopaedics, rheumatology, sports medicine and rehabilitation of patients of all ages. These specialties are spread out across a large site in the ...

, and

Ulster Hospital The Ulster Hospital, commonly known as the Ulster, is a teaching hospital in Dundonald (at the eastern edge of Belfast) in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Ballyregan, beside the A20 road. It provides acute services ...

, new facilities for care of older people were opened in the hospital in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997 a specialist rehabilitation unit was opened in the hospital, this unit dealt exclusively with patients with serious brain injuries. This unit was moved to a newly built specialist centre in 2006 - the Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit which is located in

Services

Beechcroft

Located within the Forster Green Hospital site is Beechcroft- the regional child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit, the only unit of its type in Northern Ireland. This unit opened in early 2010 and was built at a cost of £9 million. It deals with patients with complex needs and offers a range of assessment and treatment options that cannot be done within the community.

References

{{authority control Hospitals in Belfast Hospitals established in 1897 Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) hospitals Hospitals in County Down