| AdminHistory | Winter Street Hospital: opened 1881, closed 1976
Winter Street Hospital and sanatorium for infectious diseases (other than smallpox) and tuberculosis was built in 1881 at a cost of £20,000. It consisted of four blocks containing 80 beds in large wards and eight single-bedded wards, with airing courts on the roof. In 1892 the Nurses Home was built, followed by an isolation block of four wards. In 1898 a row of cottages adjoining the hospital in Dart Square was taken over to house more tuberculosis patients. Before the First World War the main cases taken in were scarlet fever and diphtheria.
Sheffield's Tuberculosis Scheme was discussed at meetings of the City Health Committee. In late 1913 the Council approved the principle of taking over cases of tuberculosis at that time dealt with by the Poor Law Authorities, and decided that there should be two separate sanatoria within easy reach of the city, one for men (150 beds) and one for women (c.100 beds). Approval was granted in January 1914 for the purchase of a site in the Rivelin Valley (for women); and in late 1914 it was decided that land at Buck Wood be purchased as the site for the male sanatorium. These were apparently never built, the onset of the First World War presumably putting an end to these plans.
The hospital was handed over to the military authorities, to be used for military wounded, in March 1915. Wards had been prepared for this since October 1914 and the patients had been transferred out to Crimicar Lane Hospital on 25 February 1915. During the Second World War the hospital was again used for the military sick.
After the war the hospital reverted to accommodating male and female tuberculosis cases, and had beds for 110 patients.
Bed places were set at 103 in 1954 when beds placed in the middle of wards were removed to reduce overcrowding. Children at the hospital were transferred to Ash House Hospital School in 1957. Closure by March 1970 was proposed in November 1968; the patients would be transferred to Lodge Moor Hospital. In 1971 spending was approved to adapt the premises to form a geriatric day hospital with 40 places. In mid 1974 the 84 beds were too many for the staff to cope with and the number was reduced to 65.
In October 1974 Trent Regional Health Authority put the upgrading of Winter St Hospital out to tender; during which works the patients were moved out elsewhere. On 10 December 1975 it was recommended that the proposal to rename the reopened hospital ' St George's Hospital' be passed to Sheffield Area Health Health Authority.
Administration:
The hospital was administered by Hospitals Committee of Sheffield City Council, established under the Public Health Act, 1875. In 1927 this committee became a sub-committee of the Health Committee.
At the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 management, like other hospitals formerly administered by the Council, passed to the Sheffield No 3 Hospital Management Committee of Sheffield Regional Hospital Board.
By May 1948, Commonside Sanatorium was being run as an annexe to Winter Street Hospital, and by 1951 Dronfield Hospital was also administered in that capacity.
Following the reorganisation of the NHS in 1974 the management of Winter Street Hospital came to the newly created Central (Teaching) District of Sheffield Area Health Authority (Teaching), within Trent Regional Health Authority. |