St Bernard's Hospital

St Bernard's Hospital
Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA)
Gibraltar Health Authority ambulances parked outside St Bernard's Hospital
Shown in Gibraltar
Geography
Location	Blocks 1-4 Europort, Europort Avenue, Gibraltar
Coordinates	36°08′36″N 5°21′34″W / 36.143405°N 5.359491°W / 36.143405; -5.359491Coordinates: 36°08′36″N 5°21′34″W / 36.143405°N 5.359491°W / 36.143405; -5.359491
Organisation
Care system	Social health insurance
Hospital type	General
Affiliated university	Kingston University
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	Approx. 210
History
Founded	1567
Links
Website	http://www.gha.gov.gi/stbernard.html

St Bernard's Hospital is the only civilian general hospital in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

In 1567, during Gibraltar's Spanish period, a retired Spanish innkeeper by the name of Juan Mateos converted his house into a 20-bed hospital. He continued to nurse locals and sailors from this location for over 20 years before running into debt, as a result of which he transferred the hospital to the "Orden de San Juan de Dios" (Spanish: Order of Saint John of God). He joined the order himself until his death in 1594, when he was mourned by all the locals. By 1691, the hospital became known as the "Hospital de San Juan de Dios" (English: Saint John of God Hospital), an isolation hospital.

The existing Spanish hospital in Gibraltar was taken over by the British authorities as a military hospital after the Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar in August 1704 and repaired and refurbished by the Lieutenant Governor Col. Richard Kane. It was initially a naval hospital, but was used during the 1727 siege by the Army, and was returned to the Navy in 1728. With the building of the Naval Hospital in 1746, it became the Garrison Hospital, but by 1756 it was being used as a Barracks, later known as the Blue Barracks, where the Company of Military Artificers (later the Royal Engineers) was formed in 1776.

Much of the building fell into ruins after it was severely damaged by Franco-Spanish bombardment during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, and it was not until 1815 that it was extensively rebuilt under the auspices of the then Governor of Gibraltar Sir George Don, as a civil hospital for the local population. It served as a war hospital for injured soldiers in the Mediterranean, and many received aid here in the 1830s.