The Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) is a large
NHS
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 " ...
hospital in the town of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
in the English county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
. It provides acute hospital services to the residents of the western and central portions of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
, and is managed by the
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust in England, which is responsible for the management of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, as well as the Prince Charles Eye Unit and the Dialysis Unit, both in ...
.
The hospital provides approximately 813 inpatient beds (627
acute
Acute may refer to:
Science and technology
* Acute angle
** Acute triangle
** Acute, a leaf shape in the glossary of leaf morphology
* Acute (medicine), a disease that it is of short duration and of recent onset.
** Acute toxicity, the adverse eff ...
, 66
paediatrics
Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...
and 120
maternity
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...
), together with 204-day beds and spaces. In doing so, it employs over 5,000 staff and has an annual budget of £228 million.
History
![Royal Berkshire Hospital 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Royal_Berkshire_Hospital_3.jpg)
The Royal Berkshire Hospital was opened in 1839 on the London Road on land donated by
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.
Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, an ...
, a local resident and former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. The hospital was built by local architect and builder Henry Briant, who won the design competition.
King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...
took a keen interest in the hospital before it was built and as a consequence, his arms appear on the central pediment, although he died before the hospital opened. The first patron of the hospital was William's niece and successor,
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.
In the 1860s, the original building was extended with east and west wings designed by
Joseph Morris. In the 1880s, a new chapel was added to the rear of the main block, together with long side wings. Both chapel and side wings were also designed by Morris.
In 1993, the ''Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust'' was formed, to manage both the Royal Berkshire Hospital and
Battle Hospital, the town's other general hospital. On 24 February 2006,
The Queen
In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to:
* Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death
The Queen may also refer to:
* Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...
accompanied by
The Duke of Edinburgh opened the new buildings of the Royal Berkshire Hospital. This was to celebrate the completion of an eight-year project to move the Battle Hospital services onto the Royal Berkshire Hospital site. In August of the same year, the trust became an
NHS Foundation Trust
A foundation trust is a semi-autonomous organisational unit within the National Health Service in England. They have a degree of independence from the Department of Health and Social Care (and, until the abolition of SHAs in 2013, their local s ...
under the name of ''Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust'', reflecting both its new status and the closure of Battle Hospital.
In 2008, the hospital was awarded 'Excellent' for its use of resources and 'Good' for the quality of its services in the
Healthcare Commission
The Healthcare Commission was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom. It was set up to promote and drive improvement in the quality of health care and public health in England and Wales. It aimed ...
's annual health check of all the hospitals within 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 " ...
. The
accident and emergency department
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...
is consistently one of the most efficient in the country, with more than 99% of patients being seen and treated, admitted or discharged within four hours.
In August 2010, it was reported that the number of jobs in the hospital would be reduced by 600, out of a total of around 4,000, to achieve a saving of £60 million. In October 2013, as part of a screening process by the
Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England.
I ...
, based on existing data and intended for use in prioritising inspections, the Trust was put into the highest risk category.
On 5 March 2020, a patient at the Royal Berkshire Hospital was the first confirmed fatality in the UK from the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
In August 2020, Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital piloted an Emergency Department for elderly and frail people.
In November 2021, the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading began consulting the local community about major redevelopment of the current hospital or alternatively a completely new development in a different location, to ensure that future planning and developments would cover everyone's needs.
Buildings
![Royal Berkshire Hospital 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Royal_Berkshire_Hospital_2.jpg)
The hospital occupies a long thin site, running gently uphill from London Road to Addington Road, and flanked by Craven Road and Redlands Road. The buildings that house the hospital are of various ages, from the original building of 1839 to the latest ward block completed in 2015. Despite the various ages and styles of building, almost all of the hospital's departments are accessible from a single indoor pedestrian route that runs the length of the site. The original entrance on London Road still exists, but the main entrance is now situated in Craven Road, roughly at the midpoint of this route.
The original building of 1839, together with the wings added in the 1860s, are now
listed grade II* by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
. They are built of
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
with
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
roofs, and the main building comprises 2 storeys and a basement. The frontage has 11 bays, with the central 7 bays forming a projecting
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
ed
hexastyle portico with
Ionic columns
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...
.
Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre
Amongst the buildings within the hospital complex is the old laundry, built in 1881. This now houses the museum of the Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre, which contains 3,000 artefacts relating to medicine, surgery,
nursing
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
,
midwifery
Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...
,
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
and
dentistry
Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...
. Some of the exhibits date back to the 17th century.
Notable patients
* In 1931, the famous
fighter pilot
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...
Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared p ...
had both legs amputated in the hospital by the surgeon
Leonard Joyce, after an air crash at
Woodley Aerodrome. The hospital features in the film
Reach for the Sky, where these events are depicted.
[Brookes, Andrew. ''Crash! Military Aircraft Disasters, Accidents and Incidents''. London: Ian Allan Ltd., 1991, p. 36. .]
*
Catherine, Princess of Wales
Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...
, was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital on 9 January 1982, as was her sister
Pippa Middleton in 1983.
* ''
Minder
A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds".
Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...
'' actor
George Cole, best known for playing Arthur Daley died there in August 2015.
See also
*
List of hospitals in England
The following is a list of hospitals in England. For NHS trusts, see the list of NHS Trusts.
East Midlands
* Arnold Lodge, Leicestershire
*Babington Hospital – Belper, Derbyshire
*Bassetlaw District General Hospital – Worksop, Nottinghams ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust websiteBerkshire Medical Heritage Centre
{{authority control
1839 establishments in England
Grade II* listed buildings in Reading
Hospital buildings completed in 1839
Hospital buildings completed in 2006
Hospitals in Berkshire
NHS hospitals in England
Hospitals established in 1839