Monmouth Hospital

Monmouth Hospital
Aneurin Bevan Health Board

Monnow Vale Hospital
Geography
Location Monmouth, Wales
Organisation
Care system NHS
Services
Beds 19
History
Founded 1868
Links
Lists Hospitals in Wales

Monmouth Hospital was a hospital founded in 1868 in Monmouth, Wales, relocated in 1903 to Hereford Road in that town, and closed on 12 May 2006, when services transferred to the Monnow Vale Health and Social Care Centre at Drybridge Park.

History

A Dispensary was first located at Little Castle House, Castle Hill, in 1810.[1] It was founded to provide free advice and medicine for the poor, and to encourage vaccination. The support and financing was largely from donations, concerts, fees and exhibitions.[2] Three doctors were appointment annually after a table of their kills and cures had been examined.[2] The dispensary had an income of around £200 annually and dispensed around £160 worth of medicine each year.[2]

Monmouth Hospital and Dispensary was opened at Cartref, St James' Square, in 1868 with nine beds. Lord Llangattock covered the cost of 'The Hendre Bed' in perpetuity[3] The equipment may have been inadequate as an appeal for rags and wound dressings went out in 1872.[2]

Around 1840, letters started to appear in the Monmouthshire Beacon advocating a General Hospital for Monmouth. The lack of an operating room and difficult stairs in the dispensary were proving a problem.[2]

Calls for an isolation hospital were often printed in the paper following each outbreak of cholera including a bad outbreak in 1849 confined the Union workhouse on Hereford road where 16 people died. Eventually Lord Llangattock presented the town with the donation of the Carthage Cottages off the Hereford road, near manson lane, for an isolation hospital. This was well received and the Hospital for Infectious diseases existed before closing sometime before the 1960s [2]

As well as donating the Carthage Cottages Lord Llangattock donated £1000 in 1840 for a replacement to the Dispensary. It was not until 60 years later on the 6th November 1903, a new Cottage Hospital and Dispensary opened in Hereford Road. The work started in April 1902. The laying of the Memorial Stone took place on September 27, 1902. Lord Llangattock president of the hospital reminded everybody at the ceremony that it was for the suffering and afflicted poor.[4] The ground was bought from the Duke of Beaufort for £250. It was designed by Richard Creed, built by Collins and Geoffrey and Furnished by George Edwards of Monmouth.[3]

Monnow Vale Integrated Health and Social Care Facility

The development of Monnow Vale was begun after discussions between local GP practices and the social services department of Monmouthshire CC. The GP practices had significant Fundholder savings which they were prepared to devote to the project. The drivers were an aging existing hospital, non existent outpatient facilities and scattered, poor facilities for local day services especially for the elderly. The availability of land at Drybridge Park was also important. There was an enthusiasm to join up local health and social care under one roof and if possible provide a base for other community services. The innovative nature of the proposal received considerable support from all sides especially from the directors of social services. The project gained momentum and was built under the PFI scheme and opened in 2006.

From 2006, health provision in Monmouth has centred at the Monnow Vale Integrated Health and Social Care Facility. It provides services previously based at Monmouth Hospital, Overmonnow Day Hospital, Dixton Road Clinic, along with Social Care and Community Nursing Teams and Day Services.[5] It has been developed in partnership with Monmouthshire County Council, local Voluntary Organisations, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust and Monmouthshire Local Health Board, it is a private finance initiative hospital.[6] The facility at Drybridge Park was opened on 20 July 2006 by Dr Brian Gibbons, Minister for Health and Social Services. Monnow Vale has 19 in-patient beds.[5]

Specialist clinics run at the Hospital: Cardiology outpatient clinic, continence clinic, X-ray, diabetes clinic and retinopathy screening, GP counselling service, health visitor clinic. mental health outpatient clinic for adults, paediatric audiology clinic, orthopaedic clinic, ophthalmology clinic, pharmacist’s clinic, adult out-patient psychology clinic, physiotherapy clinic, podiatry clinic and podiatry consultant clinic, respiratory clinic, rheumatology clinic, sexual health clinic, spinal injuries clinic.[5]

Hospital Hours: Monday to Thursday, 8am – 5.30pm, Friday, 8am – 4.30pm[5] Visiting hours are: 3pm – 6pm, and then 7pm - 8pm (7 days a week)[5]

References

  1. ↑ Kissack K., (1975) Monmouth - the Making of a County Town. ISBN 0-85033-209-5 Phillimore Press
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Keith Kissack, Victorian Monmouth, The Monmouth Historical and Educational trust, ISBN 0-9503386-2-1, page 60
  3. 1 2 Keith Kissack, Monmouth and its Buildings, Logaston Press, 2003, ISBN 1-904396-01-1, page 65
  4. ↑ Alan Sutton Publishing, Monmouth and the River Wye in Old Photographs, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1989, ISBN 0-86299-481-0, page 16
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Monnow Vale Integrated Health and Social Care Facility, Aneurin Bevan Health Board
  6. ↑ http://www.partnershipsuk.org.uk/PUK-Case-Study.aspx?Region=Wales&SubRegion=&Project=11959| Partnership UK website
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