Nether Edge Hospital

[Lysanderix]

Following all the chat about Firvale Workhouse/ Infirmary/City/ Northern General perhaps we might discuss another former workhouse…EcclesallBierlow…which became Nether Edge Hospital. I was born there in 1943 and it never passed my mind to think I had ever been associated with a Workhouse….save an ancestor of mine was the “ Keeper of the Poor Law” in Totley when it was firmly a part of Derbyshire.

[ewanarm]

My wife used to work at Nether Edge Hospital and her office was actually the old kitchens for the workhouse block. The big heavy oven doors were stil there all sealed up. The main administration block was named Kingswood and this was the original main workhouse building.

[Suzy]

I worked there in 1967 as a pupil SEN nurse . Long wards , some patients had been there years , very heavy , no lifting equipment those days , they had a bath day and a bath book , you basically had to lift patients into the bath manually , not an easy task , no wonder niurses went off with spinal injuries. You didn’t see many overweight nurses those days .I did 6 months and lost 1 st in weight .

Always a staff shortage due to illness and work pressure  , backed up by auxiliary staff so no change even now . Nurses under strain resulting in A struggling NHS .

suzy 

[Heartshome]

Had my daughter in there 1978. It was May and there was a heat wave, it was so hot on the ward, that

we laid on the beds with the windows fully open. I remember the glossy walls, and wondered how many

coats of paint they'd had over the years! Staff were brilliant, and we had a 'PROPER MATRON' in charge,

and I tell you what, there was No work slacking, No shortages of equipment, No late attending to patients,

if she said something was needed or wanted doing, it was got and done. Everything was 'spot on'.

Don't know when she had a day off, but she visited the Mums every day. I spent a week there and loved it! 💖

[Suzy]

12 minutes ago, Heartshome said:

Had my daughter in there 1978. It was May and there was a heat wave, it was so hot on the ward, that

we laid on the beds with the windows fully open. I remember the glossy walls, and wondered how many

coats of paint they'd had over the years! Staff were brilliant, and we had a 'PROPER MATRON' in charge,

and I tell you what, there was No work slacking, No shortages of equipment, No late attending to patients,

if she said something was needed or wanted doing, it was got and done. Everything was 'spot on'.

Don't know when she had a day off, but she visited the Mums every day. I spent a week there and loved it! 💖

Hi Heartshome

Sounds like The Netheredge hospital had changed to Maternity sometime  in the  1970s as when I did my 6 months there it was Getiatric a term they used for elderly care . No lifting equipment then, only manual lifting , some of the lifts are illegal now .There were long stay and short stay wards , some of the elderly had been there 10yrs  or more.

The ward clinicians used lots of sedation drugs then and restricted movement , some were sat in chairs , tipped back to stop them getting out , they were put there in the morning until bedtime. a long day with no tele or music   . Visitors only in the afternoon after lunch .I was only 18 and it was a shock introduction to the elderly care at that time . 

Regards Suzy 

[Ponytail]

1 hour ago, Suzy said:

Hi Heartshome

Sounds like The Netheredge hospital had changed to Maternity sometime  in the  1970s as when I did my 6 months there it was Getiatric a term they used for elderly care . No lifting equipment then, only manual lifting , some of the lifts are illegal now .There were long stay and short stay wards , some of the elderly had been there 10yrs  or more.

The ward clinicians used lots of sedation drugs then and restricted movement , some were sat in chairs , tipped back to stop them getting out , they were put there in the morning until bedtime. a long day with no tele or music   . Visitors only in the afternoon after lunch .I was only 18 and it was a shock introduction to the elderly care at that time . 

Regards Suzy 

They were admitting maternity cases in Dec 1951 when I was born there ... No room at the Inn at Jessops, must have been directed there... we lived at Shiregreen!

[Duffems]

Re: Nether Edge Hospital

My brother and myself were both born there in 1947 and 1948 then my sister also born 1969 (a late unexpected addition!).

When the Nether Edge annexe on Union Road became Brincliffe Grammar School I attended there until it closed completely in 1965.

I had surgery in Nether Edge Hospital in 1988.

In 1992 when my father died I found among his papers that he'd been "adopted" by Thomas and Elizabeth Greatbatch but, as this was in 1923 prior to official adoptions there was no documentation.

After much research I also found my father had been admitted to The Sheffield Union Workhouse (later Nether Edge Hospital) by his birth father after his birth mother had died just 5 weeks after his illegitmate birth in 1923, she being a WW1 widow and the father John Henry Eaton being married to someone else.

My father was later taken out of Sheffield Union Workhouse and "adopted" by this very elderly Greatbatch couple, I've never found out why as there's no family connection.

So, in conclusion, I have many family connections to Nether Edge Hospital in one guise or another.

Regards,

Duffems

[southside]

I only found out that my maternal great grandmother died in the Ecclesall Bierlow Union Workhouse when I started working on my family history. My grandfather was 21 when his mother died in 1904,  grandfather lived with us until his death in 1966, neither he or my mother ever mentioned anything about great grandmothers death in the Workhouse. I guess the social stigma of the Workhouse lived on with my mother until her death in the 90s.

Ecclesall Bierlow Workhouse https://www.workhouses.org.uk/EcclesallBierlow/