Bristol Homeopathic Hospital was a hospital in the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

in south-west England, specialising in

homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

treatments. The Hampton House building, designed by

George Oatley Sir George Herbert Oatley (3 January 1863 – 12 May 1950) was an English architect noted for his work in Bristol, especially the gothic Wills Memorial Building. He was knighted for public service in 1925. Early life Oatley was born in Brist ...

, is a Grade II listed building. Hampton House is now being used as the student health service for Bristol University, offering a range of services to the students of the university.

History

The hospital was founded as a dispensary in 1832 and became a hospital in 1852. From 1925, the hospital was based in its own building, Hampton House, in the Cotham area of Bristol. It 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. On 7 January 2013, the hospital moved operations from Cotham to the

South Bristol Community Hospital South Bristol Community Hospital is a community hospital in the Hengrove area of Bristol, England, on the site of the former Whitchurch Airport. It opened in March 2012. It is managed by the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation ...

. In-patient services had been provided at Hampton House until 1986, when they were moved to the

Bristol Eye Hospital Bristol Eye Hospital is a specialist ophthalmic hospital in Bristol. It is part of the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. The University of Bristol Dental Hospital is adjacent, and the Bristol Royal Infirmary The Bri ...

, with out-patients continuing at Hampton House. Homeopathic services ceased at the hospital in October 2015, partly in response to a 10:23 Campaign, which opposed the public funding of homeopathy, led by the

Good Thinking Society The Good Thinking Society is a nonprofit organisation promoting scientific scepticism established by Simon Singh in September 2012. Activities The society aims to raise awareness of and fund sceptical projects. During the 2014 World Homeopathy ...

and public figures such as

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve th ...

and

Edzard Ernst Edzard Ernst (born 30 January 1948) is a retired British-German academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, alleged ...

. University Hospitals Bristol confirmed to the

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 ...

(CCG) that it would cease to offer homeopathic therapies from October 2015, at which point homeopathic therapies would no longer be included in the contract. Homeopathic services in the Bristol area were relocated to the Portland Centre for Integrative Medicine, described as "a new independent social enterprise." In response to a

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

request, Bristol CCG revealed in 2015 that "there are currently no (NHS) contracts for homeopathy in place with the Portland Centre." The grounds of the old hospital are now used by Bristol University, housing its health service, counseling service and disabilities service, as well as its department of philosophy and multi-faith chaplaincy.

References

Hospitals in Bristol Homeopathic hospitals in the United Kingdom 1852 establishments in England Defunct hospitals in England Grade II listed buildings in Bristol {{UK-hospital-stub