Westhulme Hospital, also known for some time as Westhulme Fever Hospital, was an institution in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

, England. At one time a hospital for

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

s, it later became a site used by several health-related organisations.

History

Westhulme Hospital was one of several

isolation hospital A fever hospital or isolation hospital is a hospital for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever and smallpox. Their purpose is to treat affected people while isolating them from the general population. Early examples included the Liverpool ...

s established in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

during the 1870s as a response to

smallpox epidemics Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...

prevalent in the region at that time. Opening in 1878, it was larger and more suited to treating a range of infectious diseases than some other examples, such as those at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

. It initially comprised three eight-bed wards and three single-bed rooms in wooden buildings.

Scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...

cases were a substantial proportion of its early intake and in 1880, coinciding with the introduction of local legislation making notification of infectious diseases compulsory, it was decided to create more permanent structures. The new buildings attracted 13,000 people visiting as viewers. Following initial suspicions concerning its function, the hospital catered for patients from a wide demographic, including mothers with children, tradespeople and

pauper Pauperism (Lat. ''pauper'', poor) is poverty or generally the state of being poor, or particularly the condition of being a "pauper", i.e. receiving relief administered under the English Poor Laws. From this, pauperism can also be more generally ...

s. A substantial portion of its area was subsumed in the 1980s when the Chadderton Way road was built and the hospital itself closed in around 1990. In 2006, the

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was an acute hospital trust which, until 2019, operated Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, North Manchester General Hospital, the Royal Oldham Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary, all in Greater Manchester. It is no ...

announced that it was to sell the site, which at that time housed its offices, to alleviate a £28m debt crisis. The 284 staff on the site were to be redeployed among the Trust's other hospital sites. In 2012, after 135 years, it was reported that outline planning permission was in place for development of the remainder for housing purposes, although one potential alternative was for it to be used for car park facilities serving the

Royal Oldham Hospital The Royal Oldham Hospital is a NHS hospital in the Coldhurst area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is managed by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has its own volunteer-run radio station, Radio Cavell, whic ...

. The site was subsequently developed as an

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

car dealership for

Jardine Motors Group Jardine Motors Group, is a multi-national operator of franchised motorcar dealerships in the United Kingdom with international outlets in Hong Kong, Macau and China.

, which opened in 2017.

Notable people

Notable people associated with the hospital included

James Niven James Niven (12 August 1851 – 30 September 1925) was a Scottish people, Scottish physician, perhaps best known for his work during the 1918 flu pandemic, Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918 as City of Manchester, Manchester's Medical Officer of Healt ...

who was superintendent there in the 1880s.

References

Hospitals in Greater Manchester Hospitals established in 1878 1878 establishments in England Defunct hospitals in England Buildings and structures in Oldham Fever hospitals {{GreaterManchester-hospital-stub