| AdminHistory | Sheffield Radium Committee, 1914 - 1931
Sheffield Radium Centre, 1930 - 1945
Sheffield National Centre for Radiotherapy, 1945 - 1970
Sheffield Radium Committee was established in 1914 to administer the 'Sheffield Radium Fund'.
By the turn of the 20th century, X-ray apparatus was in use in Sheffield Royal Infirmary for examining broken bones. By 1914, however, the additional medical use of radium in the treatment of cancers and other conditions was well recognised and doctors from the four Sheffield voluntary hospitals (the Royal Infirmary, Royal Hospital, Jessop Hospital for Women and the Children's Hospital) mounted an appeal for £10,000 to purchase 250 mg of radium. As a result of the public meeting held in May 1914, sufficient funds were raised for this purpose. The Radium Fund, based at Sheffield Royal Infirmary, was administered by the Radium Committee to provide radium and other substances deemed beneficial to patients suffering from malignant disease. It was stored in premises at Sheffield University and was available for use in treatments at the four voluntary hospitals. Treatment was either by radon gas administered via glass emanation tubes, or by radium implants inserted by means of needles, the latter form becoming the norm by the late 1920s.
The Radium Committee was wound up in 1930 when the Royal Infirmary offered to provide accommodation in its Victoria Block for a Radium Centre, under the direction of Dr Frank Ellis. There were two wards for in-patients, one for men and one for women. Further supplies of radium were received on loan from the National Radium Commission. This radium was reserved for treatment within the Centre, with the stock of radium purchased by the Radium Fund remaining available for use in the three other hospitals.
During World War II the X-ray apparatus was evacuated to a site in Blackbrook Road, Sheffield, owned by the University's department of Experimental Pathology. Out-patients were treated there, whilst accommodation for 30 in-patients was made available at Lodge Moor Hospital. The radium itself was taken for safe storage to Firbeck near Worksop, and later to Buxton, and that kept at the voluntary hospitals was buried deep underground at the Royal Infirmary.
In 1944 the Radium Centre moved to premises in Tree Root Walk converted for the purpose; out-patients were treated there, in-patients were again mainly accommodated at the Royal Infirmary.
The name was changed in 1945 to 'Sheffield National Centre for Radiotherapy', as by then agents other than radium were by then used in cancer treatment. Research and development flourished: the David Morrison Research Department, opened in 1949, contained the first 2 million volt Van der Graf generator in the country. In 1970 the Centre was absorbed into Weston Park Hospital which was opened in April of that year.
Administration:
The Sheffield National Centre for Radiotherapy and its predecessors was managed by a committee consisting of representatives from Sheffield's four voluntary hospitals: the Royal Infirmary, the Royal Hospital, the Jessop Hospital for Women, and the Children's Hospital, together with representatives from the University of Sheffield. At the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, the management of the Sheffield National Centre for Radiotherapy was taken over by Sheffield No 4 Hospital Management Committee (HMC), which was responsible for radiotherapy treatment throughout the area of the newly created Sheffield Regional Hospital Board. In 1964 Sheffield No 4 HMC was merged into Sheffield No 3 HMC, and this administration continued until the Centre was absorbed into Weston Park Hospital in 1970. |
| Description | Administration 1914 - 1948
NHS25/1/1 Minutes, 1914 - 1931
NHS25/1/2 Reports, 1927 - [1932]
NHS25/1/3 Correspondence, 1915 - 1935
NHS25/1/4 Agreements, 1940 - 1948
NHS25/1/5 Treatment statistics and papers, 1921 - 1970
NHS25/1/6 Sheffield Regional Hospital Board: Radiotheray and Cancer Advisory Committee, 1961 - 1973
Land and Buildings 1930 - 1936
NHS25/2/1 Radium block, 1930 - [1935]
NHS25/2/2 Other accommodation, 1936
Finance 1914 - c. 1950
NHS25/3/1 Cash books, 1914 - 1964
NHS25/3/2 Income and expenditure accounts, 1915 - 1948
NHS25/3/3 Vouchers, 1931 -1937
NHS25/3/4 Financial papers, 1927 - c. 1950
NHS25/3/5 Ledgers, 1953 - 1962
Stores and equipment 1928 - 1947
NHS25/4/1 Radium stocks, 1928 - 1937
NHS25/4/2 Insurance, 1929 - 1947
Establishment 1934 - 1937
NHS25/5/1 Appointments and salaries, 1934
NHS25/5/2 Insurance, 1937 - 1947
Patients 1947 - 1970
NHS25/6/1 Nominal registers of [out]patients, 1953 - 1970
NHS25/6/2 Radium wards: admission and discharge registers (mixed), 1954 - 1967
NHS25/6/3 Radium wards: admission and discharge registers (males), 1954 - 1971
NHS25/6/4 Radium wards: admission and discharge registers (females), 1958 - 1970
NHS25/6/5 Cancer registration forms, 1947 - 1970
NHS25/6/6 Supervoltage X-ray and cobalt beam therapy records, 1950 -1960
NHS25/6/7 SR I [Siemens I] radiotherapy treatment registers, 1967 - 1970
NHS25/6/8 SR II [Siemens II] radiotherapy treatment registers, 1958 - 1970
NHS25/6/9 WA X-ray therapy registers, 1958 - 1960
NHS25/6/10 X-ray therapy registers, 1961 - 1964
NHS25/6/11 Radium theatre registers, 1966 - 1970
NHS25/6/12 Radium in position registers, 1967 - 1970
NHS25/6/13 Mobilatron radiotherapy treatment registers, 1967 - 1970
NHS25/6/14 140 KX 10 radiotherapy registers, 1967 - 1970
NHS25/6/15 Stabilatron X-ray therapy registers, 1968 - 1970
NHS25/6/16 David Morrison Department waiting list registers, 1961 - 1970
NHS25/6/17 Broom Cross waiting list registers, 1965 - 1970 |
| CustodialHistory | Prior to April 1986 the records previously numbered SY640 and SY732 were held by the former South Yorkshire County Record Office. |