By Wilfrid Edgecombe, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S.
The history of the Harrogate and District General
Hospital
The year 1932 was a "red letter year" in the history of the
Harrogate and District General Hospital. On September 17th the opening ceremony was performed by
HRH The Princess Royal with great panoply and flourish of
trumpets.
The total cost up to date was said to be £114,829. The average cost per bed of hospital construction over the country varied
between £1,000 and £1,500. That of the, new hospital was computed
at only £850 per bed, a remarkable and noteworthy economy.
During the completion and gradual occupation of the new hospital
the old building was kept in commission and the two run concurrently
for a time, the latter mainly as an out-patient clinic. With the
opening of the new outpatient department the old hospital was
finally closed down and evacuated.
This year marked the retirement of the senior surgeon and
chairman of the board of management, Mr Herbert Frankling. He
joined the staff in 1904 and thus served the hospital for 28 years,
during which he raised the standard of surgery to the high level it
has maintained ever since. Mr T V Pearce, who had acted as
assistant surgeon to Mr Frankling for six months, was appointed
full surgeon. Mr. D'Oyly Grange now became senior surgeon.
On Mr Frankling's retirement from the chairmanship of the board
of management he was presented with a testimonial, and the late
Major C W Whitworth took his place. In the following year Mr E
Rutherford was appointed assistant surgeon.
In 1933 the secretary, Mr Ballantyne, resigned after 13 years'
service and was presented with a testimonial in the form of a silver
salver, a tie-pin and a cheque. Mr Saunders was appointed
secretary at a salary of £400. He only held office for a year when
he was replaced by Mr Disney.
To illustrate the growth of the activities of the hospital the
following figures are of interest: inpatients, medical, 429;
surgical, 1,225. Major operations, 960; maternity, 82 cases. Ear,
nose and throat, in-patients, 316: operations, 439.
The income for the hospital this year was £26,235 and the
expenditure £19.097. The cost of fuel and lighting amounted to
£2,111 or 13 per cent. of the total income: a fact which gave the
management seriously to think and led to the subsequent changeover
from oil to coal firing and from electricity to gas for cooking.
At a meeting of the medical staff of the hospital suggestions
were made that in view of the greatly increased use of the hospital
made through the medium of the contributory scheme by persons of
moderate means, and of the large income derived from this source, it
was only equitable that some payment out of these funds now be made
to the honorary medical staff for their services. The proposal was
emphatically turned down, but the matter was raised again and again
through the ensuing years until in 1943, ten years later, when the
justice of the claim was recognised after many prolonged and at
times acrimonious discussions and the demand was implemented, as
will be related subsequently.
In view of the new building contemplated and the large
expenditure entailed, in 1934 a fund of voluntary subscription
entitled the "Thirty Thousand Fund" - in the hope of reaching that
amount - was inaugurated by the treasurer, the late Mr G G
Stephenson. The response to it fell short of expectations for it
only realised about £17,850. Nevertheless, it was a "very present
help in time of trouble."
Among the projects in hand and contemplated were (1) the building
of a boiler house for coal firing to replace the oil-fired boilers, a
change made necessary by the great increase in the cost resulting
from the tax on oil fuel imposed by the Government; (2) a new dining
hall, lecture room and chapel for the nursing staff; (3) a new wing
to the nurses' home; (4) a massage department; (5) a maternity
block; (6) an isolation block; (7) an enlargement of the
out-patients' department; (8) a pathological laboratory; and (9) a
mortuary. Another building to be erected was the VD clinic built
and maintained by the West Riding County Council. It was completed
in 1938 at a cost of £2,500 plus £300 for furnishing, and the
maintenance was computed at £730 per annum.
Next
