The Bristol Royal Infirmary, also known as the BRI, is a large teaching hospital situated in the centre of Bristol, England. It has links with the nearby University of Bristol and the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England, also in Bristol. The BRI is one of eight hospitals operated by the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. It is located next to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI).
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History
Early history
The Bristol Royal Infirmary was founded by public subscription in 1735, making it one of the oldest infirmaries in the United Kingdom.
In 1904 Sir George White, who gave Bristol its first electric tramway service and established what was to become the Bristol Aeroplane Company, saved the hospital from debts of over £15,000 by increasing the number of subscribed donors and planning a fundraising carnival at Bristol Zoo. White was appointed president of the hospital in 1906. Recognising the need to modernise the hospital building to keep up with innovations in science and medicine, he established a £50,000 fund for a new hospital building. This led to the construction of the Edward VII Memorial Wing which designed by Charles Holden and completed in 1912.
Geoffrey Tovey, serologist and founder of the UK Transplant Service, worked at the hospital shortly before the Second World War. The hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948 and was greatly extended in the 1960s. The Queen's Building extension opened in 1972, the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, located behind the main hospital building, opened in 1971 and the adjacent Bristol Heart Institute opened in 2009.
Redevelopment
In April 2011, the Trust Board approved an £80 million redevelopment of the hospital, consisting of a new ward block on Terrell Street behind the hospital, the refurbishment of the Queen's building, the conversion of wards in the King Edward building and the decommissioning of the Old Building. In September 2011, it was announced that Laing O'Rourke had signed a contract to redevelop the hospital and build an extension to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
The redevelopment project included purpose-built medical and elderly care admissions units, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit, a surgical floor and a helipad on the roof of the Queen's Building.
The redevelopment also included building a new Welcome Centre at the main entrance of the hospital and a new facade for the Queen's building, which was once voted one of the ugliest buildings in Bristol. Construction began on the new hospital ward block in March 2011, with the demolition of buildings on Terrell Street. The newly completed Welcome Centre was opened to the public in December 2013. In May 2014, the helipad became fully operational and started receiving air ambulances from Bristol and the surrounding area, speeding up transfer times for patients who were being airlifted to the hospital. The HELP Appeal supported the construction of the helipad with a grant of £500,000.
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Bristol heart scandal
The Bristol heart scandal, which resulted in the deaths of a number of babies and young children during heart surgery (1984-1995) led to the Kennedy Report into paediatric cardiac surgical services at the hospital. The report led to greater emphasis on clinical governance within the NHS and the publication of the performance ratings of individual heart surgeons.
Archives
The archives of the Bristol Royal Infirmary are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 35893) (online catalogue). The School of Nursing (Ref. 38973) (online catalogue, online catalogue), records of surgery and the dispensary (Ref. 38990) (online catalogue) and records relating to the 1991 inquiry into children's heart surgery at the infirmary (Ref. 45591) (online catalogue) are also held at Bristol Archives, as well as photographs (Ref. 40660) (online catalogue). A substantial quantity of material about the history of the infirmary can be found in papers collected by the surgeon Richard Smith (Ref. 35893/36) (online catalogue) and (Ref. 14754) (online catalogue).
See also
- Healthcare in Bristol
- Southmead Hospital
References
Sources
- Munro Smith, George (1917). A history of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (PDF). J.W. Arrowsmith.
External links
- University Hospital Bristol NHS Foundation Trust website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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