Crown Street Women's Hospital

Crown Street Women's Hospital
Crown Street Women's Hospital
Geography
Location	Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Coordinates	33°53′00″S 151°12′51″E / 33.88337°S 151.21423°E / -33.88337; 151.21423
Organisation
Care system	Public Medicare (AU)
Hospital type	Teaching
Affiliated university	University of Sydney
Services
Speciality	Women's hospital
History
Founded	1893
Closed	1983, services transferred to Westmead Hospital
Links
Lists	Hospitals in Australia

Crown Street Women's Hospital (now-closed) was once the largest maternity hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was located at 351 Crown Street (corner of Crown and Albion Streets), Surry Hills.

The hospital was one of several stand-alone maternity hospitals in Sydney, none of which remain. It opened in 1893, and was closed in 1983. During its 90-year life, it trained hundreds of midwives and doctors, and was a teaching hospital of the University of Sydney. Many thousands of Sydney's residents were born there. When Westmead Hospital opened in Sydney's west, Crown St Hospital's maternity facilities were moved there, along with the general medical and surgical departments of Sydney Hospital on Macquarie Street, and the hospital was closed. The site has now been redeveloped.

Founded by Dr James Graham in 1893, the Women's Hospital in Crown Street aimed to lift the medical standards for maternity care. In addition to providing wards for surgical cases and complicated births the Hospital provided treatment in homes. Initial funding of the Women's Hospital came from public subscription, obstetric nurse training and student fees, with assistance from the Government in obtaining furniture and surgical instruments. The Board of the Women's Hospital met for the first time on 13 August 1895. One of the Hospital's early achievements was providing instruction to women who had previously acted as midwives without any medical certification. On 30 October 1919 the Permanent Auxiliary Organisation was founded to centralise offers of assistance. Permanent Auxiliary Centres were opened at Abbotsford in 1933 and Bondi-Waverley in 1937. By its Golden Jubilee in 1943 Crown Street Women's Hospital had become the largest maternity hospital in New South Wales. The Hospital's Nurseries were divided into five categories - D, Premature, Adoption, Founders Isolation and Main. [1]

The Crown Street Women's Hospital was closed on 31 March 1983 and its facilities were transferred to Westmead Hospital.