Report - Royal Hospital Haslar Hampshire mar13

[monk]

Visited with fire fly and top cat [non forum members]

Early start on a very rain and wind swept day, not to many reports on this hospital so hopes of an explore wernt very high, to make things worse i felt like shit all week, so as we stood on the outside in the freezing rain debaiting our plan of attack i did question myself on why i wasnt laying in a warm bed with a lemsip

These questions were soon answerd as we gained entry to the grounds and the scale of the place hit us, after a bit of messing around looking for a entry point we were in, cold and wet but oh yeah it was defintley worth it.

Founded in the reign of King George I, the Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, was one of several hospitals serving the Portsmouth Urban Area, but had previously been the country's foremost - and ultimately last - military hospital. Its military status was withdrawn in 2007, and those military personnel remaining joined the Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit (MDHU Portsmouth) at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth. In the summer of 2009, all remaining (civilian) medical services at Haslar were relocated to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, and the site was subsequently sold.

The Royal Military Hospital Haslar had a number of notable specialist medical facilities, including a decompression chamber and a zymotic isolation ward.

The Royal Hospital Haslar was designed by Theodore Jacobsen and built between 1746-61. The site opened as a Royal Navy hospital in 1753. It has had a very long and distinguished history in the medical care of service personnel both in peacetime and in war since that time, treating many tens of thousands of patients.

Haslar was the biggest hospital - and the largest brick building - in England when it was constructed. Dr James Lind (1716-1794), a leading physician at Haslar from 1758 till 1785, played a major part in discovering a cure for scurvy, not least through his pioneering use of a double blind methodology with Vitamin C supplements (limes). The hospital included an asylum for sailors with psychiatric disorders, and an early superintending psychiatrist was the phrenologist, Dr James Scott (1785–1859), a member of the influential Edinburgh Phrenological Society.

In 1902 the hospital became known as the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar (abbreviated to RNH Haslar).

In the 1940s, RNH Haslar set up the country's first blood bank to treat wounded soldiers from the Second World War.

In 1966, the remit of the hospital expanded to serve all three services - the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force, after which time, it became known as the Royal Military Hospital Haslar.

In 1996 the hospital again became known as the Royal Hospital Haslar.

In 2001, the provision of acute healthcare within Royal Hospital Haslar was transferred from the Defence Secondary Care Agency to the NHS Trust. The Royal Hospital was the last MOD-owned acute hospital in the UK. The decision to end the provision of bespoke hospital care for Service personnel was taken prior to the UK's expeditionary campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, but was nevertheless followed through, largely on the grounds of cost. The change from military control to the NHS, and the complete closure of the hospital have remained the subject of considerable local controversy.

The hospital formally closed in 2009 and the site has since started to be redeveloped.

Not to many externals security are very present and do there rounds on foot in any weather

Floors still polished and had that squeaky sound still

Holby city script parts of the hospital was used for filming, so im told.