Report - Frenchay Hospital, Bristol - July 2014

[Seffy]

Frenchay Hospital, Frenchay, Bristol

Visited over a couple of trips, with the delightful company of WhoDaresWins, END-PROC, tumbles, rasinwing, JasperB, Gabe and Idavoll.

Some brief and stolen history for you, as this one has only recently appeared on the radar:

Frenchay Hospital is a large hospital situated in Frenchay, South Gloucestershire, on the north east outskirts of Bristol, England. It is part of theNorth Bristol NHS Trust. From April to December 2014 Frenchay Hospital is being progressively closed, with the majority of services moving to a new building at Southmead Hospital. Accident and Emergency was transferred on 19 May 2014. A few services relating to brain and head injuries will remain at the site after December 2014.
The hospital, situated in the grounds of a Georgian mansion, Frenchay Park, started life as a hospital (Frenchay Park Sanatorium) in 1921, when Bristol Corporation acquired the land. In 1931, five purpose-built buildings were constructed to extend the hospital beyond the original house. Concerns about the possibility of heavy bombing casualties led to the hospital being greatly expanded between 1938 and early 1942. Although Bristol was severely bombed, the new facilities remained unused. When US forces arrived in 1942, the city handed the new hospital facilities over to the Americans, as a sort of reverse Lend-Lease. The initial units of the Medical Corps were the 2nd and 77th Evacuation Hospitals and the 152nd Station Hospital. Further expansion to the facilities including 27 wards, occurred in late 1942 and it was occupied by the 298th General Hospital. Initially, the Americans used the hospital mainly as training facility for their medical staff. After D-Day, however, the hospital was used in earnest, the processing of casualties becoming a very slick operation under the control of the 100th and then 117th General Hospitals. Casualties were flown into Filton or arrived by train from the channel ports. Between 5 August and 31 December 1944 a total of 4,954 patients were discharged from Frenchay.

Future:

Frenchay Hospital is due to be downsized so the main Trust hospital will be at Southmead Hospital. The hospital has extensive grounds which would be sold off were this to happen. There is however a Save Frenchay Hospital campaign that is fronted by Steve Webb, the Member of Parliament for the Northavon constituency that includes Frenchay. The campaign's main arguments are that Frenchay Hospital affords greater possibility for expansion than the Southmead site and that emergency access is easier due to its proximity to the motorway with less traffic.
The accident and emergency department was transferred to the new Southmead Hospital on the 19 May 2014, following local advertising of the change.

We all knew of the imminent closure of Frenchay for quite some time, but didn't realise quite how much it would have to offer, and indeed how easy it would be to see it all.

Over two very pleasant days of spending quite a lot of hours wandering around the place, we pretty much covered the whole place, with the exception of the maintenance buildings (which are still live) and the water tower, which is currently locked tight. We were free to wander around undisturbed, which made it just that bit more special.


See, whoever said that Bristol can't do decent things?

Photos

CT Scanner in situ...

And next visit, gone...

And on the roof, of course...

Cheers for looking!​

 

[sirjonnyp]

Sexy

 

[Rik UE]

Crikey what a comparison when you compare that to DRI, wonder how long it will take for this to go the same way, which will be a shame!

Nice photographs and nice report thanks for sharing

 

[wellingtonian]

Awesome set mate. Worth setting up a burger stall outside anytime soon?

 

[tumbles]

Awesome set mate. Worth setting up a burger stall outside anytime soon?

You've already missed a day's worth of sales. T-Shirts being printed out ready for next week. Roll up Roll up

 

[raisinwing]

Nice one mate, they didn't mess about shifting that CT scanner.

Really enjoyed our trip there

 

[Will Knot]

Great report and pics there, thanks for sharin'

 

[Seffy]

Cheers all. Just a heads up, if you want to see this with even remotely decent stuff still left in situ, you need to be quick. It is being cleared fast!

 

[Ojay]

Sad really for all the Hospital enthusiasts as I guarantee the NHS will be more clued up on future closures, no more wandering around the wards amongst the strip out crews with tea and biscuits

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Now that"s an impressive Hospital ( report )

It looks in better nick than the new Pinderfields (Wakefield) lol

I can imagine the Transit Vans forming an in-orderly queue already

 

[Landie_Man]

Pretty damn cool!