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Royal Infirmary Hospital


mickjj

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This may seam a silly question but what was the reason for closure? wss it to build a more modern building. The Northern General is old but has never been closed.

My wife worked at both Infirmary & Northern General.

It was decided that Sheffield needed just 2 main hospitals one for the centre/south and one for the north. So both the Royal Hospital & Royal Infirmary were closed being replaced by the newly built Hallamshire and the NGH was expanded & modernised.

In fact much of the NGH is new (ish) . Up to the 1960's the NGH was little changed from the old Workhouse which it originally was. New building started about 1970 and has continued since. My wife was a sister on what was the brand new state of the art Cardio-Thoracic Intensive Therapy Unit in the early 1970's. The older buildings ( the old geriatric buildings) were modernised.

John

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Sheffield General Infirmary bell, cast by Chambers Newton & Co. in 1793.

One of the items currently on display inside the main entrance (B floor)

of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

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I was admitted to the Royal Infirmary during 1970 for exploratory surgery to my leg.

As part of the investigation it was found necessary to inject me with a dark blue dye in order to contrast the lymph vessels when they had a dig inside. I was told that the procedure would be carried out under a general anaesthetic but at the last moment, after I'd had my pre-med they had an emergency and had to cancel. They then had a re-think and told me they'd found another theatre and would use a local anaesthetic.

They took me down into the bowels of the hospital, along the infamous tunnel and eventually wheeled me into the darkest dankest room with tiled walls that had once been white but were by then grey with cracked glaze. They explained that it was the "old pox theatre" and it would suffice for their purposes.

The first problem was that the operating table, (covered in old split leather), was rusted solid and they could not bring the head of the table down to the level position. " You don't mind watching do you", they said, "close your eyes if you're squeamish".

They attached a canula to my foot and began injecting the dye which appeared black. After a couple of minutes my foot began to turn dark blue and the surgeon began his work. I watched the entire procedure which I found very interesting and eventually they stitched up the small incisions they had made. By this time my entire leg was turning blue.

When they took me back it was to a small private room with a TV. I wondered why they had done this until I looked in the mirror and realised that my face was turning blue. Over the next few hours my entire body turned a very un-flattering shade of electric blue. This lasted for several days and the hue gradually changed to a extremely sickly looking pale green colour. The colouring extended to the fluid in my eyes and everything I looked at appeared a pretty blue colour.

During my stay what seemed like the entire medical staff came to look at me each day and the non-medical staff appeared at the peep-hole in the door.

For weeks after my discharge, an arc of blue, gradually worked it's way along my finger and toe nails.

The conclusion reached was that no lymphatic system was present in my left lower leg.

It all sounds horrific but at the time I regarded my " Blue Period" as a huge hoot. :P

Despite what we are told I think the Health Service has come a long way in the provision of premises and services since the 1970's.

HD

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Guest whyme

I worked as a security guard there for 6 years and there is a tunnel that leads from Centenary House which as far as I am aware was the old nurse's home to under the Tesco's and it was used by nurse going to start there shift on the wards.A few of the guys I worked with would not go near it at night because they said they had heard a woman scream from behind a locked door although I never heard it myself and I never had any problem going near it at night. I think the tunnel has been bricked up now. But there is one interesting fact which is there was a cctv camera that pointed right at the entrance to the tunnel which for some reason kept stopping working for some unknown reason until the angle of the camera was changed and it no longer covered the entrance and after that we had no problems with it at all.

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I worked as a security guard there for 6 years and there is a tunnel that leads from Centenary House which as far as I am aware was the old nurse's home to under the Tesco's and it was used by nurse going to start there shift on the wards.A few of the guys I worked with would not go near it at night because they said they had heard a woman scream from behind a locked door although I never heard it myself and I never had any problem going near it at night. I think the tunnel has been bricked up now. But there is one interesting fact which is there was a cctv camera that pointed right at the entrance to the tunnel which for some reason kept stopping working for some unknown reason until the angle of the camera was changed and it no longer covered the entrance and after that we had no problems with it at all.

My wife lived at Centenery House for a period in the mid 60's during her nurse training. The tunnel from Centenary House was one of many that linked the various blocks of the hospital. We used them to keep out of the rain; similarly for transferring patients.

How long the tunnels had been there i don't know- maybe built during the war for safety during bombing?.

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I've been searching for a plan of the grounds of the Royal Infirmary

Has anyone ever seen one.

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I've been searching for a plan of the grounds of the Royal Infirmary

Has anyone ever seen one.

If you have a look on old-maps.co.uk you can find an 1853 map at a scale of 1:1,1056 and a 1890 map at a scale of 1;500.

There are plenty of later maps but at a scale of 1:10,560 or 1:10,000.

HD

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What memories I have of Sheffield Royal Infirmary ! I was a patient there in March 1969 for 4 months. Even though it has been over 45 years I can remember my stay almost as it was yesterday. I had a brain tumour at 15 years old on Ward 21 and later Ward 22, I can even remember some of the nurses there. The 4th month I was there I was able to walk around the hospital as I was there mainly as I could go to various nearby Radium centres rather than travel back to Scunthorpe every day where I lived. I often walked into the central strange shaped building of the hospital or the kitchens in the basement which was next to the mortuary ...... often I passed a cook taking food containers to a manual lift to the wards only to be passed by a porter with a covered corpse going to the mortuary ! I don't think the Health and Safety Dept. would accept quite allot of activities that I can remember ....... the Hospital saved my life though !!

Mark Mc Daid

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Guest deedaajohn

i had a girlfriend who was a student nurse at the infirmary she lived in centenary house when i took her back to the hospital iwould take a shortcut over the boiler house coke store so i could catch the number 9 cicular on albert terrace rd one night i somehow ended up outside the mortuary just as i realised i was in the wrong place the morg trolley turned up that was the fastest i ever went up the ladder and over the cokes

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i had a girlfriend who was a student nurse at the infirmary she lived in centenary house when i took her back to the hospital iwould take a shortcut over the boiler house coke store so i could catch the number 9 cicular on albert terrace rd one night i somehow ended up outside the mortuary just as i realised i was in the wrong place the morg trolley turned up that was the fastest i ever went up the ladder and over the cokes

My wife (then girlfriend) & I also used the route over the boiler house coke store in the early 60's. All the staff must have used it as it saved a long walk!

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I think the reason for all the eye patches is probably work related. I should imagine that a lot of steel grinders picked up some nasty injuries back in the day.

I spent a couple of weeks in the Infirmary skin ward when they used to admit you for the treatment of psoriasis. I can't believe it was built in 1792, it was a very solid buiding and I remember the tunnels, we got to go to the cinema room to watch a film every thursday and used to walk through them. Very eerie indeed.

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On 05/02/2009, 21:57:05, scunmac said:

 

I think the reason for all the eye patches is probably work related. I should imagine that a lot of steel grinders picked up some nasty injuries back in the day.

I spent a couple of weeks in the Infirmary skin ward when they used to admit you for the treatment of psoriasis. I can't believe it was built in 1792, it was a very solid buiding and I remember the tunnels, we got to go to the cinema room to watch a film every thursday and used to walk through them. Very eerie indeed.

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2 hours ago, Lappo2000 said:

I think the reason for all the eye patches is probably work related. I should imagine that a lot of steel grinders picked up some nasty injuries back in the day.

I spent a couple of weeks in the Infirmary skin ward when they used to admit you for the treatment of psoriasis. I can't believe it was built in 1792, it was a very solid buiding and I remember the tunnels, we got to go to the cinema room to watch a film every thursday and used to walk through them. Very eerie indeed.

I was referred to the Eye Department Out Patients by our doctor about 1955. Eye Dept. patients sat in a defined area in the rotunda for what seemed ages until being called. After some tests you got drops in your eyes then back to the rotunda whilst they made everything blurry. Then more tests. After several visits I was prescribed glasses that had to got from an optician, followed by a few more visits to the eye clinic.

What I do remember was that each set of seats faced the different departments that must have been arranged around the periphery of the rotunda.

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On ‎04‎/‎07‎/‎2007 at 07:35, johnm said:

 

 

Hi My wife was a student nurse at the Infirmary from 1965 until about 1967 and lived in the Nurses home there called Centenary House (at the top right hand corner of the site looking from Infirmary Rd ; looking at a Google aeriel photo it appears Centenary House still stands). It was almost impossible for boy friends to get into the home ! After a night out all the nurses who lived there got into the hospital by going over a plank that was laid over the coal bunker on the road ( Albert Terrace Rd ?) at the side of the hospital that came up from Infirmary Rd. The coal bunker was not far away from the nurses home.

We well remember the underground tunnels which were a good idea and saved a lot of patients and staff from getting soaked when it rained. The tunnels were used during the war to allow patients to be moved safely.

We both remember Christmas Days at the Infirmary. All the staff worked 12 hours ( 8 am - 8 pm or nights ) and after she finished work we went to the show that was put on by doctors and nurses. - a real laugh it was ! After the show, everyone was invited back to the doctors residency for a party.

The best Christmas decorations were on Ward 23 which they decorated to be a Dickensian street complete with pub ( one of the staff rooms) etc. Christmas Day afternoon was a really good time for the staff and boy friends ( not so sure about the patients!). Great memories !!

I also had my tonsils out at the Royal Infirmary in 1949 - ops were pretty basic then !!

 

John

I was there for 4  months from March to June in 1969 with a brain tumour. I was mainly in ward 21 on the 2nd floor but ward 22 on the 3rd for a short while. I was 15 at the time but I can remember so much, that was 48 years ago but sometimes we can't remember what we had for yesterdays dinner ...... Mr Hardman, Nurse Eric, Nurse Bacon, the Roundhouse, the kitchens near the mortuary .......... 

 

Mark - scunmac

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On ‎02‎/‎04‎/‎2011 at 11:36, hilldweller said:

I was admitted to the Royal Infirmary during 1970 for exploratory surgery to my leg.

As part of the investigation it was found necessary to inject me with a dark blue dye in order to contrast the lymph vessels when they had a dig inside. I was told that the procedure would be carried out under a general anaesthetic but at the last moment, after I'd had my pre-med they had an emergency and had to cancel. They then had a re-think and told me they'd found another theatre and would use a local anaesthetic.

 

They took me down into the bowels of the hospital, along the infamous tunnel and eventually wheeled me into the darkest dankest room with tiled walls that had once been white but were by then grey with cracked glaze. They explained that it was the "old pox theatre" and it would suffice for their purposes.

 

The first problem was that the operating table, (covered in old split leather), was rusted solid and they could not bring the head of the table down to the level position. " You don't mind watching do you", they said, "close your eyes if you're squeamish".

 

They attached a canula to my foot and began injecting the dye which appeared black. After a couple of minutes my foot began to turn dark blue and the surgeon began his work. I watched the entire procedure which I found very interesting and eventually they stitched up the small incisions they had made. By this time my entire leg was turning blue.

 

When they took me back it was to a small private room with a TV. I wondered why they had done this until I looked in the mirror and realised that my face was turning blue. Over the next few hours my entire body turned a very un-flattering shade of electric blue. This lasted for several days and the hue gradually changed to a extremely sickly looking pale green colour. The colouring extended to the fluid in my eyes and everything I looked at appeared a pretty blue colour.

 

During my stay what seemed like the entire medical staff came to look at me each day and the non-medical staff appeared at the peep-hole in the door.

 

For weeks after my discharge, an arc of blue, gradually worked it's way along my finger and toe nails.

The conclusion reached was that no lymphatic system was present in my left lower leg.

 

It all sounds horrific but at the time I regarded my " Blue Period" as a huge hoot. :P

 

Despite what we are told I think the Health Service has come a long way in the provision of premises and services since the 1970's.

HD

I was there for 4  months from March to June in 1969 with a brain tumour. I was mainly in ward 21 on the 2nd floor but ward 22 on the 3rd for a short while. I was 15 at the time but I can remember so much, that was 48 years ago but sometimes we can't remember what we had for yesterdays dinner ...... Mr Hardman, Nurse Eric, Nurse Bacon, the Roundhouse, the kitchens near the mortuary .......... similar  to you, because there were no brain scanners in those days instead of an MRI scan under local anaesthetic I went to a theatre where you have described where a small Welsh surgeon made a small hole in my head with a manual drill and injected some blue dye into me and made an ordinary x-ray ...... that was a 1969 brain scan !

 

Mark - scunmac

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I remember the Rotunda waiting area very well, until i was 15, it was always cold. I had to attend the eye clinic every 6 months. When I was 2, I had a Cist taken off my right pupil at the Childrens hospital, scar tissue left the eye blind for a while. I regained some partial blurred vision, but the op left the muscle weak and my eye wandered, so they sent me to the Infirmary for checkups and exercises. I remember sitting on a very high stool, putting my chin on a metal plate, looking through 2 big round eye glasses at pictures, then by holding a handle either side, you had to put a dog in a kennel, or a soilder in a centry box. I'd often come out with the old 'Pink' eye patch on, but it didn't stay on for long! My favourite bit of going there, was the treat of visiting the Cafe, I seem to remember it was like a long cabin outside, not far from the entrance.

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On 9/5/2017 at 06:20, scunmac said:

I was there for 4  months from March to June in 1969 with a brain tumour. I was mainly in ward 21 on the 2nd floor but ward 22 on the 3rd for a short while. I was 15 at the time but I can remember so much, that was 48 years ago but sometimes we can't remember what we had for yesterdays dinner ...... Mr Hardman, Nurse Eric, Nurse Bacon, the Roundhouse, the kitchens near the mortuary .......... similar  to you, because there were no brain scanners in those days instead of an MRI scan under local anaesthetic I went to a theatre where you have described where a small Welsh surgeon made a small hole in my head with a manual drill and injected some blue dye into me and made an ordinary x-ray ...... that was a 1969 brain scan !

 

Mark - scunmac

If the small Welsh surgeon you remember was about as broad as he was tall, he was almost certainly the redoubtable Clifford Jones. Shortly after my "blue-ification" at the Royal Infirmary, I was transferred into his care in the Outpatients Building of the Hallamshire Hospital.

Mr. Jones ruled the surgical clinics with a rod of iron.

He would walk out of his consulting room and study the patients sat on the seats on the corridor. "Sister" he would shout, "What are all these patients doing here". Within five minutes the corridor would be empty, Lord alone knows where she put them all, probably stacked them three deep in linen cupboards.

I was told that Dr. Jones died at an early age while still working. A great loss to the hospital and the Health service.

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On 01/08/2007 at 17:25, Guest echo said:

Over the door one one of the blocks, was the message - 'Abandon hope, all ye who enter here'.

It said, in flaking gold letters, ‘I was sick, and ye visited me’. In 2020, with Covid-19, maybe that would have been amended to ‘I was sick’!

Quote is from St Matthew‘s ‘Gospel’.

Ebenezer Elliott, in one of his poems, does a brilliant take-down of a local preacher (who targeted the impious - and those who had a child out of wedlock) who was a bit too fond of St Matthew and his binary Heaven-or-Eternal-Hellfire tropes.

“That if unmarried, they have heirs,

Or fail, when scared, to say their prayers”

then, said Elliott

"it’s down to the flaming lake below"...

Funny how other kinds of humour ages badly, but satire doesn’t seem to...

 

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I had my tonsils out there in 1949 age 5; go in morning & out by tea time having been told to eat ice cream ! I recall anasethetic being dropped onto mask over my nose plus a glass jar with liquid in  it on window ledge which looked as though it had tonsils floating inside it !

My wife was a student nurse living at the Nurses Home called Centenery House  there from 1964 - 1966. We went in the underground tunnels to go from block to block when it rained.

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In an earlier review of Hospital requirements it was proposed to build a new hospital for the south of the City. 190 acres of land was acquired at Coal Aston under the Public Health Act of 1875  and, in a strange twist of fate, the proposed Sheffield Airport was then  planned to be built there. By 1933 priorities had change...and the War intervened . Neither was built...the land being used for municipal housing.

As an aside, the Northern General is a rambling "Ponderosa"...confusing to the occasional vistor and guaranteed to increase blood pressure if attempting to park a car!😉

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A picture of an oil painting of Sheffield General Infirmary viewed from around Port Mahon in 1798 and an interesting 1826 map of the area drawn just before the whole area was developed.

s07341.jpg

arc03896_1826.jpg

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