By Wilfrid Edgecombe, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S.
The history of the Harrogate and District General
Hospital
From 1949 onwards various developments rapidly took place in the
Harrogate and District General Hospital. Certain structural
alterations and improvements were made. Numerous expensive articles
of medical and nursing equipment were purchased, largely out of
endowment and "free money" resources. The number of consultant
physicians and surgeons, and of registrars and house officers, was
increased: and new clinics were established. Details of these items
will appear later.
It was decided that Carlton Lodge Maternity Home, in Leeds Road,
owned and run by Harrogate Corporation, should be taken over by the
National Health Service and administered as an annex to the
Harrogate and District General Hospital The contents of the home
were purchased at a valuation of approximately £1,500. It contains
eleven beds. The average number of patients resident at one time is
nine. The average number of confinements yearly over the period
1948-55 amounted to 201, the total number over eight years being
1,612.
It has proved, however, to be rather an expensive unit, for the
average cost per bed per week in 1955-6 was £18 0s 3d, which
compares unfavourably with the regional average of £13 16s. 7d. It
is contemplated that at some future time, when more maternity beds
are available at the General Hospital (possibly by building a storey
on to the existing maternity block), Carlton Lodge shall be given
up.
Similarly, Heatherdene Convalescent Home, in Wetherby Road, owned
by the Sunderland Royal Infirmary, was taken over by the National
Health Service and administered from the General Hospital, under a
"gentleman's agreement" to admit patients from Sunderland and local
convalescents on a fifty-fifty basis. Thirty-eight beds are
available, male and female patients being admitted, and the
arrangement has worked satisfactorily to both parties.
The Thistle Hill Hospital for infectious diseases. built and run
by the West Riding County Council, was also taken over and forms one
of the Group managed from the General Hospital. It has accommodation
for 54 patients, all types of infectious disease being admitted,
with the exception of polio-myelitis.
