When was royal berkshire hospital built

It provides acute hospital services to the residents of the western and central portions of Berkshire , and is managed by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital provides inpatient beds acute, 66 paediatrics and maternity , together with day beds and spaces. The hospital was built by local architect and builder Henry Briant , who won the design competition. King William IV took a keen interest in the hospital before it was built, and as a consequence his arms appear on the central pediment, although he died before the hospital opened.

The first patron of the hospital was William's niece, Queen Victoria. In the s, a new chapel was added to the rear of the main block, together with long side wings. Both chapel and side wings were also designed by Morris. The hospital features in the film Reach for the Sky , where these events are depicted. A man, Alfred Cotton, looked after the men, while a woman, Nurse Hollis, cared for the women. This included board and lodging, but all had to supply their own tea and sugar!

At this time, the duties of a nurse were very different to today. Nurses cleaned wards, served meals and kept an eye on patients, but they had no qualifications.

Their only medical duty was to see that patients took the medication that was prescribed by the medical staff. Most nursing applicants came from workhouses and were often rather unfortunate characters, dealing with social and medical issues of their own. She had received a report from the House Surgeon that Cotton was negligent in his duty and had fallen asleep when in charge of patient on the eye ward!

Hogg dismissed him, and sought to replace him with a woman, as she believed that a woman would provide more satisfactory care. Nurse Isabella Jones was literate, only to be dismissed after being found drunk, having stolen spirits from the dispensary.

Another nurse seemed a good fit, until she was identified as having been a barmaid at a local pub, an association that, for the Victorians, didn't sit right at all. By the s, the Hospital admitted double the number of patients but still had only five nurses and one night-nurse.

Female patients regularly complained of ill-treatment and cruelty, and the Board received many anonymous letters. Nurses were responsible for cleaning the wards and were allowed to call on the help of able-bodied patients.

In , the Board agreed to hire dedicated cleaning staff, and complaints subsided. Upon her return to England in , Florence Nightingale promoted the importance of good nursing and hygiene in hospitals.

However, her innovative solutions would take a while to be embraced by the Royal Berks! Initially, improvements were held back by the difficult character of the incumbent Matron — Matron Tillbrooke — who served from until , leaving just as the hospital expanded with two new wards.

In the years that followed, the Hospital Board reviewed its service, and by was considering fundamental changes, which included hiring trained nurses for the very first time. The Home would supply the Royal Berks with one trained Superintendent Nurse and three trained nurses. In August, , the three trained nurses and the new Superintendent herself — Miss Smith — arrived.

Within a week, Smith asked for three more nurses, increasing nursing staff to ten, alongside further kitchen and laundry staff. Since then, funds have been collected in ways well known to Leagues throughout the country, namely through our Shops, Fete, through Collection days and at special events.

In recent years we have seen the refurbishment of our retail outlets in the South Wing at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Since then,our formidable list of achievements in providing equipment and facilities for the Hospital with the help of our ever willing volunteers, stands in comparision with any League elsewhere in the UK. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you agree to this please click OK.