Voluntary hospitals were created from the eighteenth century in England. In America, Ireland, and Australia, voluntary hospitals were established later. They can be distinguished from

municipal hospital A Municipal hospital is a hospital under the control of a local government, as opposed to those run commercially, by some sort of charitable organisation, or by national or state governments. In many countries the different sorts of organisations ...

s, which were publicly owned, and

private hospital A private hospital is a hospital not owned by the government, including for-profits and non-profits. Funding is by patients themselves ("self-pay"), by insurers, or by foreign embassies. Private hospitals are commonly part, albeit in varying degr ...

s, which were run commercially. They were initially financed by public subscription. A voluntary hospital may also be a

charitable hospital A charitable hospital, or charity hospital, is a non-profit hospital that provides treatment for poor and uninsured people who can't purchase treatment. An example would be St. Jude Children's Hospital that provides assistance to children and funds ...

United Kingdom

By the middle of the 18th century there were five in London: St Barts, Guy's, St Thomas',

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

and St George's. They provided free medical care to those who could not afford it. They were "amongst the chief sources of the advancement of medical science". They were the earliest

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...

was the last to be founded in England, in 1851. The 1851 census recorded 7,619 patients in hospital in England and Wales. At that time those who could afford it were generally cared for in their own homes. In 1901 there were 39,184 hospital patients. Standards of care, and of nursing in particular had improved as formal training was established and staffing ratios improved. Nursing was almost entirely by women. Even in 1937 there were less than 100 male nurses employed in the voluntary hospitals. In 1900 there were about 11,000 nurses working in voluntary hospitals, some of whom were sent out to do domiciliary nursing. In 1937 there were more than 33,000, mostly actually in the hospitals. They worked longer hours for less pay than nurses in the

s. After the First World War the hospitals began to admit private paying patients and by 1921, 171 of the provincial hospitals had pay beds. Plaque on the wall of Manchester Royal Infirmary

Plaque on the wall of Manchester Royal Infirmary

Public collections, Hospital Saturday Funds and flag days to support the hospitals continued in the UK until the 1930s. The voluntary hospitals of Manchester in 1929 were these: the Royal Infirmary, St Mary's Hospitals, the Royal Eye Hospital, the Royal Children's Hospital, Ancoats Hospital, the Northern Hospital, the Ear Hospital, St John's Ear Hospital, the Hospital for Consumption, the Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, the Christie Cancer Pavilion, the Radium Institute, the Jewish Hospital, the Babies' Hospital and the Dental Hospital; the Salford voluntary hospitals were Salford Royal Hospital and Greengate Hospital. The

King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...

supported the voluntary hospitals in London. Ten of the largest and most influential former voluntary hospitals in England established the

Shelford Group The Shelford Group is a collaboration of ten of the largest teaching and research NHS hospital trusts in England. The ten members collectively employ over 140,000 people and account for over £12.5 billion of the NHS budget. The member organisat ...

in 2011 to protect their common interests.

Australia

A similar business model applied to all general hospitals in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

up to the 1950s. Despite the charitable structure, much of the capital and half of the operating losses were being funded by State Government by 1913.

Ireland

In Ireland the model is still in use.

References

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