The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care hospital in the

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * ...

suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a site. It is the area's major

accident and emergency 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 pa ...

hospital, with a helicopter landing point on the adjacent

Lansdown Cricket Club Lansdown Cricket Club, formed in 1825, is recognised as the earliest official organised cricket club in Somerset. Originally based in Lansdown, since 1869 the club has been based at Combe Park, Bath, adjacent to the Royal United Hospital. Foun ...

field. The hospital is operated by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.

History

Founding

The Royal United Hospital takes its name from the union of the Bath Casualty Hospital founded in 1788, and the Bath City Dispensary and Infirmary founded in 1792. The Casualty Hospital was founded in response to the serious injuries sustained to labourers working on the buildings which were being constructed in the city. The Dispensary and Infirmary developed from the Bath Pauper Scheme, a charity founded in 1747 to provide medical treatment for destitute persons in Bath. The combined institution opened in a building designed by John Pinch the elder in Beau Street as the Bath United Hospital in 1826. It was awarded the title "Royal" by

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 her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in 1864 when a new wing, named the Albert Wing after the recently deceased Prince Consort, opened. This building was later occupied by

Bath College Bath College is a Further Education college in the centre of Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2 ...

Combe Park site

The hospital moved to its present site, Combe Park, on 11 December 1932. The site had previously been used for the large

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Bath War Hospital, which opened in 1916. In November 1919, it was renamed the Bath Ministry of Pensions Hospital, which it remained until it closed in 1929. The site was also used by the Forbes Fraser Hospital and the Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital, both founded in 1924 and which merged into the RUH about 1980. The former manor house on the site, originally medieval but remodelled in the 18th century, became an administrative building. The building is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

due to its fine

Adam style The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (17 ...

interior. In 1959, the hospital absorbed the Ear Nose and Throat Hospital and in 1973, the Bath Eye Infirmary, both located elsewhere in Bath. In July 2011, the Dyson Centre for

neonatal care Neonatal nursing is a sub-specialty of nursing care for newborn infants up to 28 days after birth. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin". Neonatal nursing requires a high degree of skill, dedication an ...

opened for premature babies. Over half of the £6.1million cost was raised by the hospital's charity, the Forever Friends Appeal.

2014 redevelopment

In 2008, plans were revealed for a £100M redevelopment of the pre-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

RUH North buildings, which would include an increase in single-occupancy rooms in line with Government targets. In 2014, a five-year £110M development plan was confirmed; it included a new cancer centre, pharmacy, integrated therapies unit, pathology block, IT centre and 400 extra public car parking spaces.

Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases

In 2015 and 2016, some services were transferred from the

Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases is a small, specialist NHS hospital on the Royal United Hospital (RUH) site in the northwestern outskirts of Bath, England. The hospital was founded in 1738 as a general hospital for the poor ...

to the RUH, including endoscopy and children's services, following that hospital's takeover by the RUH Trust. Construction started on a dedicated building at the RUH site in November 2017. The last rheumatic diseases services were transferred to the RUH site in autumn 2019.

Sulis Hospital, Peasedown

Sulis Hospital at

Peasedown St John Peasedown St John (commonly referred to as Peasedown) is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, standing on a hilltop roughly south-southwest of the city of Bath, and north-east of the town of Radstock at the foot of the Mendip Hills. ...

, about south of the Combe Park site, provides both NHS and privately-funded treatment and operates as a subsidiary of the RUH. The hospital was built in 2010 by

Circle Health Circle Health Group is a private healthcare provider in the United Kingdom, co-founded in 2004 by former investment banker Ali Parsa and consultant ophthalmologist Massoud Fouladi. The company is currently led by former lastminute.com Financ ...

and bought by the

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 " ...

in 2021.

Services

The hospital provides acute treatment and care (including Accident & Emergency) for a catchment population of around 500,000 people in Bath and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and west Wiltshire. The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by three

clinical commissioning group Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were NHS organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to organise the delivery of NHS services in each of their local areas in England. On 1 July 2022 they were abolished and replaced by Integ ...

s (CCG): Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire CCG; Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG; and Somerset CCG. The Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership offers services at Hillview Lodge on the north of the site and at Bath NHS House to the south of the site.

References

External links

* *
Medical Heritage — RUH Bath
{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1826 Hospitals established in 1932 NHS hospitals in England Hospitals in Somerset Buildings and structures in Bath, Somerset 1826 establishments in England