St Richard's Hospital is a medium-sized District General Hospital (DGH) located in
Chichester
Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...
, West Sussex, England. It is now part of
University Hospitals Sussex.
History
The hospital has its origins in a facility named after
Richard de Wych, a former
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
, commissioned by West Sussex County Council in 1937 and built between 1938 and 1939.
At the start of the
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 ...
the Government designated it an Emergency Medical Service hospital and, by 1940, ten hutted wards had been added, taking the number of beds to 594.
[
After the hospital 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 Postgraduate Medical Education Centre opened on the hospital site in 1966 and new accident and emergency, outpatient, x-ray and maternity departments were completed in 1970.[ Donald Wilson House, the hospital's neurological rehabilitation unit, opened in 1975 and the intensive care unit and coronary care unit followed in 1977.][ After the hospital attained NHS Trust status in 1994, a new building, containing wards, physiotherapy and operating theatres was completed in 1996.][
In May 2008, the West Sussex Primary Care Trust Board recommended that Worthing Hospital be the 'major general hospital' for West Sussex and that St Richard's Hospital be downgraded. A new children's ward was completed in February 2011.
In April 2014 the maternity unit was awarded the prestigious 'level three' award under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts and in 2016 the hospital was rated as 'Outstanding' 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 ...
although they reported that the hospital's responsiveness required improvement.
Services
The hospital has approximately 430 beds, including six ITU beds, a high dependency unit and a maternity unit. There is an accident and emergency department. The Chichester Treatment Centre treats patients on a day care basis. The hospital has an NHS fertility clinic which also treats some private patients.
See also
* Healthcare in Sussex
Healthcare in Sussex was the responsibility of seven Clinical Commissioning Groups covering: Brighton and Hove; Coastal West Sussex; Horsham and Mid Sussex; Crawley; Eastbourne Hailsham and Seaford; Hastings and Rother; High Weald; and Lewes-Hav ...
* 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, Nottingha ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Richards Hospital
NHS hospitals in England
Hospital buildings completed in 1938
Buildings and structures in Chichester
Hospitals in West Sussex