Blackpool Victoria Hospital, known locally as The Vic, is the main hospital for Blackpool and the

Fylde Coast The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to ...

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 Lancash ...

, England. It is managed by the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

History

The hospital was originally located on Whitegate Drive and was opened as the Blackpool Hospital in 1894. It became the Blackpool Victoria Hospital by consent of

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 ...

when it was enlarged in 1898. The foundation stone of a new building on East Park Drive was laid by the

Earl of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

on 9 June 1933. The new hospital opened there in 1936 and then joined 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 has been shown in a major

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

documentary, ''Blackpool Medics: 10 Days in May'' which featured the work of the hospital and the North West Ambulance Service. The second series was broadcast in January 2008. On 25 July 2010, a nurse named Jane Clough was stabbed to death in the hospital car park. Her ex-boyfriend Jonathan Vass, an ambulance technician, was later found guilty of her murder. On 11 September 2018, a patient tested positive for the

monkeypox virus ''Monkeypox virus'' (MPV, MPXV, or hMPXV) is a species of double-stranded DNA virus that causes monkeypox in humans and other mammals. Monkeypox virus is a zoonotic virus belonging to the ''orthopoxvirus'' genus, making it closely related to the ...

, the United Kingdom's second case.

Services

The hospital departments include

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 ...

, the Macmillan

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Suite, Maternity and Gynae, a

cardiac The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

unit and

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

. The Lancashire Cardiac Centre is situated at the hospital; the unit provides specialist

cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular h ...

and

cardiothoracic 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 str ...

services for Lancashire and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

. The A&E department was already struggling to meet the four-hour target in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in England led to deterioration with hundreds of 12-hour breaches each month, considerably worse than most hospitals. In 2021 it was described 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 ...

as “chaotic”, with a serious lack of awareness and oversight of safety incidents by managers. In April 2022 they issued an enforcement notice due to concerns around the management of patients with sepsis. A new ‘transfer of care’ ward opened in April, for patients waiting to be fully discharged, and a new frailty unit is to open. A new ‘same-day emergency care’ unit is also planned.

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1934 Hospitals in Lancashire Buildings and structures in Blackpool NHS hospitals in England 1894 establishments in England

History

Services

See also

References

External links