Poole Hospital | |
---|---|
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | |
Geography | |
Location | Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom |
Organisation | |
Care system | Public NHS |
Hospital type | General |
Services | |
Emergency department | Yes Accident & Emergency |
Beds | 789 |
History | |
Founded | 1907 |
Links | |
Website | http://www.poole.nhs.uk/ |
Lists | Hospitals in the United Kingdom |
Poole Hospital (also known as Poole General Hospital) is an acute general hospital in Poole, Dorset, England. Built in 1907, it has expanded from a basic 14-bed facility into a 789-bed NHS foundation trust hospital. It is the trauma centre for east Dorset and provides specialist services such as cancer treatment for the entire county.
Poole Hospital is situated on Longfleet Road (part of the B3068 road), just below St Mary's Church, in the Longfleet area of Poole approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from the town centre. The hospital's maternity unit lies opposite the main building in St. Mary's Road. The hospital has an adjacent multi-story car park and a total of 307 parking spaces. It is served by several bus routes operated by More Bus and Yellow Buses.
In 1897, Poole's hospital was established inside a mansion house in the town centre. Known as Poole Mansion, the house had been built in 1749 by John Bastard for a prosperous local merchant but had since been bought by local wealthy landowner Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne. The hospital was named Cornelia Hospital after its benefactress, Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill, daughter of the 7th Duke of Marlborough and wife of Ivor Guest. In 1907 the hospital relocated to Longfleet Road to offer patients the "purer air of Longfleet" and to provide space for future expansion. The new hospital cost £3,369 to construct and contained 14 beds.
During the First World War, two additional wards were built with 65 beds for the treatment of wounded servicemen. The hospital was damaged by German air-raids during the Second World War and several of the hospital buildings were rebuilt. In 1947, the Cornelia changed its name to Poole General Hospital and following the formation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 it became an NHS hospital. During the 1950s a new pathology department and an outpatients unit were created and in 1961 a maternity unit was built to the north of the main hospital building.