THE MEDICAL MEMORIES ROADSHOW
‘To understand where we are today
We have to know where we have come from’
THE DAVID LEWIS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
The early 19th Century saw a rapid expansion on the northern side of Liverpool, with a growth in population and an increasingly busy dock area. These conditions created a need for hospital accommodation and for facilities for accident cases.
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On 10th April 1833 a meeting was held in the Sessions House, Chapel Street, presided over by the Mayor of Liverpool, at which it was decided to set up a hospital for accident and emergency cases in north Liverpool.
On 10 March 1834 the Northern Hospital was opened at No. 1 Leeds Street, a large house belonging to R.B. Blundell Hollinshead Blundell. To begin with the hospital had only twenty beds. The area where the hospital was situated was very near to the canal and the Princes and Clarence Docks so was a part of Liverpool where injuries which needed attention were common.
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By 1838 the Hospital had expanded to fill three houses containing 106 beds. However, larger accommodation was needed. In 1843 the Corporation offered a site in Great Howard Street. A purpose-built hospital, designed by the architect Edward Welch, was opened there on 30 September 1845.
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By the 1880's the condition of this new hospital was deteriorating and in 1882 the view was expressed that it was necessary to rebuild the hospital. With the financial support of the David Lewis Trust a new hospital was planned.
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Its foundation stone was laid on 19 October 1896 and it was opened on 13 March 1902 as the David Lewis Northern Hospital. This building occupied a site bounded on one side by Great Howard Street and on the other by Leeds Street.
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Although various additions to the building were made the hospital never left this site except during the Second World War period, 1939 - 1947, when the hospital was evacuated to St. Katherine's College, Childwall.
THE HOME OF INNOVATION
The David Lewis Northern Hospital was home to a number of Ground Breaking Ideas in the fields of both Medicine and Surgery.
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It was the home of the cities first Horse Drawn Ambulance,
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The horse was trained so that when it heard the bell, which was sounded to summon the Ambulance Crew (which was made up of Hospital Staff), it would walk forward from its stall and position itself underneath the harness which was suspended from the ceiling.
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In the 1800’s two Nursing Sisters designed an item to assist bed bound patients who required the toilet this became known as - ‘The Slipper Pan Of The Liverpool Northern’
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One of the Doctors who worked at the Hospital started his education studying Theology in London but left after a year to study medicine at Liverpool. His name was Robert James Minnitt
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Dr R.J Minnitt designed the first Gas And Air Anaesthetic Machine for Home Births - ‘The Minnitt Apparatus’ - was first used at the Woman’s Hospital in the 1930’s. He also designed a machine which became the mainstay of the Ambulance Service - ‘The Stephenson's Minuteman’. This is a portable Oxygen therapy unit that could be used in any environment.
The David Lewis Northern Hospital was closed in 1978 prior to the opening of the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.