City Hospital (formerly Dudley Road Hospital, and still commonly referred to as such) was a major

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

located in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, operated by the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. It provided an extensive range of general and specialist hospital services. It is located in the

Winson Green Winson Green is a loosely defined inner-city area in the west of the city of Birmingham, England. It is part of the ward of Soho. It is the location of HM Prison Birmingham (known locally as Winson Green Prison or "the Green") and of City H ...

area of the west of the city. It was replaced by the delayed Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, with the Treatment Centre and separate eye hospital, the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, remaining on the Dudley Road campus, the rest of which will be redeveloped for housing.

History

The hospital was first built in 1889 as an extension to the Birmingham Union Workhouse (whose entrance building, though derelict, survived until September 2017). It originally comprised a single corridor stretching for a quarter of a mile with nine

Nightingale ward A Nightingale ward is a type of hospital ward that contains one large room without subdivisions for patient occupancy. It may have side rooms for utilities and perhaps one or two side rooms that can be used for patient occupancy when patient isolat ...

blocks radiating from it along its length. The original design was by an architect called W. H. Ward and was designed around a configuration recommended by

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

. The first matron was

Anne Campbell Gibson Anne Campbell Gibson (19 November 1849 – 21 April 1926) was matron of the Birmingham Union Infirmary (1888–1912) and notable for her contributions to workhouse nursing and pioneering the establishment of infirmaries separate from workhouses a ...

, still commemorated with the Ann Gibson meeting rooms in the City Hospital. It was originally known as the Birmingham Union Infirmary, later Dudley Road Infirmary, before becoming Dudley Road Hospital. One of its notable surgeons, Hamilton Bailey, took the photos for the first edition of his famous textbook while at Dudley Road. The Birmingham Treatment Centre opened on the City Hospital site in November 2005. This diagnosis and treatment centre replaces the existing Outpatient Department. The hospital's last inpatients were transferred to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in 11 November 2024 the same day the hospital's accident and emergency unit was closed.

Notable staff

(1849–1926)

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in a hospital in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge ...

of the Birmingham Union Infirmary from 1888 to 1912 and notable for her contributions to workhouse nursing and pioneering the establishment of infirmaries separate from workhouses and staffed with trained nurses. * Marion Caroline Thomas RRC (1877– ),

Matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in a hospital in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge ...

from 1912 until 1925.Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons'? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022) Thomas trained at The London Hospital under Eva Luckes between 1900 and 1902. After her training she was employed as a Holiday Sister and Matron's Ward Assistant, before becoming matron of the Rutson Hospital in 1910.Marion Caroline Thomas, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/1, 261; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London During the First World War she was also appointed Territorial Force Nursing Service Matron in charge of the military hospital based at the workhouse infirmary: 1st Southern General Hospital, Birmingham, between April 1915 and 1919.Marion Thomas, British Army Nurses’ Service Records 1914–1918; WO399/14968; The National Archives, Kew Thomas resigned because of ill health in 1925.

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1885 Hospital buildings completed in 2005 Hospitals in Birmingham, West Midlands NHS hospitals in England Poor law infirmaries

History

Notable staff

See also

References