St Joseph's Hospital is one of the largest privately owned hospitals in Wales. It is situated on Harding Avenue,

Malpas, Newport Malpas is an electoral district (ward) and coterminous community (parish) of the city of Newport, South Wales. The area is governed by the Newport City Council. Boundaries The ward is bounded by the A4042 Heidenheim Drive to the east, the c ...

History

Origins

St Joseph's was founded by the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from Religious order (Catholic), religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – i ...

, in 1946. The three founding sisters, Sister Josephine, Sister Alphonse and Sister Malachy, had previously been sent to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to train as nurses. In 1944, the Sisters of St Joseph

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

purchased Claremont House in Malpas and turned it into a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

. Two years later St Joseph's was officially granted the status of nursing home (a term for private hospitals coined by the government at the time), with the first surgical operation being performed in February 1946. The hospital had 16 beds and treated 314 patients in the first year.

New building

Patient numbers rose in the 1950s and the founding sisters decided to sell some of the land around Claremont House to pay for redevelopment. A new hospital building with 52 beds, built on the land alongside Claremont House, opened in 1961. Soon afterwards, a 12-bed maternity unit was added. The founding sisters enjoyed the support of senior figures in the Catholic Church, receiving visits from Cardinal Heenan and Archbishop Murphy of Cardiff in the 1960s, and a letter of encouragement from

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

in 1977.

Friends of St Joseph's

In the 1980s, the charity Friends of St Joseph's was set up by volunteers to fundraise for new facilities. Various celebrities gave up their time to help raise money for the hospital, including actor

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...

, singer

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. From 1973 to 1994, he attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most suc ...

and journalist

Kate Adie Kathryn Adie (born 19 September 1945) is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world. She retired from the BBC in early 2003 and ...

. In 1996 St Anne's Hospice was opened on the same premises, and in 2004 the St Joseph's Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy Centre was opened.

A consortium buys St Joseph's

By 2014, the 52-bed hospital had a turnover of £7.5 million a year and 130 staff, but the Sisters of St Joseph no longer had the resources to run or develop it. A spokesman said: "As a congregation, they no longer have the personnel, energy nor financial resources to continue indefinitely to govern, sustain and develop St Joseph's Hospital." St Joseph's was bought for £2.78 million by a private consortium of investors and 36 of the hospital's existing consultants. The following year, the new owners announced a £10m investment. Permanent staff at the hospital increased to 177, supporting the work of the 160 consultants who treated patients at the hospital. New diagnostic equipment, including fluoroscopes, CT and MRI scanners came online in 2015. The hospital's stated aim was to "have the most advanced diagnostic capability of any hospital in South Wales, both

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

and private".

Current ownership

A private investor from the local area bought the hospital in February 2020, creating the entity St Joseph's Independent Hospital Ltd in the process. A £4m refurbishment was announced, along with plans to increase the hospital's permanent staff to 250. In March 2021,

Jess Fishlock Jessica Anne Fishlock (born 14 January 1987) is a Welsh professional footballer and coach who plays as a midfielder for Seattle Reign FC and the Wales national team. She is Wales’s all-time record goal scorer. She previously played for Br ...

MBE, Wales' most capped female footballer, opened the newly refurbished Hydrotherapy & Rehabilitation Centre, and in May 2021 St Joseph's opened a new day surgery unit with the capacity to treat 500 more patients per month. St Joseph's celebrated 75 years of care in 2021. The hospital is said to have the capacity to treat more than 50,000 people per year, as both in and outpatients.

Partnership with NHS

Since 2008,

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB; ) is the local health board of NHS Wales for Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan, in the South-east Wales, south-east of Wales. Formed on 1 October 2009 through the amalgamation of three NHS organisati ...

and

Wye Valley NHS Trust Wye Valley NHS Trust was established in 2011 by a merger of Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust with Herefordshire primary care trust, PCT community services and Herefordshire Council’s Adult Social Care services. It runs Hereford County Hospital, Bro ...

have used St Joseph's Hospital to reduce waiting lists. NHS patients received

orthopaedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

and attended a weekly

podiatry Podiatry ( ), also know as podiatric medicine and surgery ( ), is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower limb. The healthcare professional is known as a podiatrist. The US ...

surgery clinic. Since 2020, St Joseph's has expanded its NHS work, collaborating with the

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) () is the local health board of NHS Wales for County of Gwent, Gwent, in the South-east Wales, south-east of Wales. Headquartered in Caerleon, the local health board (LHB) was launched in October 2009 ...

2020 Covid-19 pandemic

In 2020 St Joseph's entered into a formal partnership with

NHS Wales NHS Wales () is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Wales, and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service () in the United Kingdom. NHS Wales was formed as part of the public health system for England and Wales crea ...

as part of the national effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The hospital committed its entire staff, bed capacity, diagnostics, theatres and facilities to support the NHS through the public health crisis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Hospital, Newport Catholic hospitals in Europe Private hospitals in the United Kingdom Private providers of NHS services Hospitals in Newport, Wales