The North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary’s history can be traced back to1804 when it was just a Dispensary and House of Recovery based in Etruria. In 1819 after outgrowing its original location the hospital moved to a new site located close to Etruria Hall, an area that was densely populated with Shelton Bar, Wedgwood, Etruria Gas Works and various collieries. It was actually all of this surrounding industry that forced the infirmary to relocate once again in 1869 to nearby Hartshill, where it could be up and away from the heavily polluted area of the original buildings. The relocation actually took over 20 years due to constant conflict between the Six Towns as to where it should be sited. This was of course in the days before the towns merged to form the City of Stoke on Trent.
More recently the Royal Infirmary was merged with the nearby Orthopaedic Hospital and City General Hospital to form the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. In 2003 it was determined that under a £350,000,000 PFI development the hospitals would be rebuilt and relocated onto the City General site. Eventually in 2012 after several years of construction, the Royal Infirmary site was finally closed when all services had been relocated.
I never really planned on doing a write-up for this place as we only got round about a third of the site and it therefore feels a bit unfinished. Unfortunately the Victorian infirmary and the nurses block are well nailed shut from the A&E/X-Ray section. We had a go at bypassing the main locked-up corridor, but with security sat in cars around every corner it turned out to be fruitless. I also managed to make a terrible job of photographing the place, I think I literally forgot how to take pictures that day... Maybe the excitement was too much.
Visited with @Gsxrwayne and a non-member.
A&E
Fracture clinic waiting area
Intensive care
Post-op recovery ward
Scrub room
Soggy offices
Haematology ward
Fume cupboards in pathology
Slabless
Chapel of rest
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