Report - North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary, Stoke-on-Trent - July 2020

[MotionlessMike]

After visiting the A&E side of the hospital + mortuary earlier in the year (see here) @Saltburndan1971 kindly offered to give me a tour of the rest of the place, which was something I couldn't say no to! Would've been nice to do it all in one hit rather than chipping away at it for ages, but beggars can't be choosers. In the end the only bits we didn't manage were the old nurses accommodation as the link corridor is breeze-blocked at each end and the laundry as we ran out of light!

The North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary’s history can be traced back to1804 when it was just a Dispensary and House of Recovery based in Etruria. In 1819 after outgrowing its original location the hospital moved to a new site located close to Etruria Hall, an area that was densely populated with Shelton Bar, Wedgwood, Etruria Gas Works and various collieries. It was actually all of this surrounding industry that forced the infirmary to relocate once again in 1869 to nearby Hartshill, where it could be up and away from the heavily polluted area of the original buildings. The relocation actually took over 20 years due to constant conflict between the Six Towns as to where it should be sited. This was of course in the days before the towns merged to form the City of Stoke on Trent.

More recently the Royal Infirmary was merged with the nearby Orthopaedic Hospital and City General Hospital to form the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. In 2003 it was determined that under a £350,000,000 PFI development the hospitals would be rebuilt and relocated onto the City General site. Eventually in 2012 after several years of construction, the Royal Infirmary site was finally closed when all services had been relocated.

I found the operating theatres much nicer on this side rather than the more modern ones above the A&E

Autoclaves

Post op recovery ward

Nice to finally see the chapel, even though it had been stripped out some time ago

Kitchens

Finally we had a look around the boilerhouse, it was really nice but the light was pretty much gone by this point

Thanks for looking

​

 

[Bando Exploration]

Wow that is in really decent condition especially how the surgical lights are still intact

 

[KPUrban_]

Will never get bored of seeing this place. The first set theatre in this report is one of the best ones around in my opinion.
Great set of images.

 

[MotionlessMike]

Will never get bored of seeing this place. The first set theatre in this report is one of the best ones around in my opinion.
Great set of images.

Thanks man. I think I ended up missing a theatre above the A&E... Neurology or something? Still kicking myself now!

 

[KPUrban_]

Thanks man. I think I ended up missing a theatre above the A&E... Neurology or something? Still kicking myself now!

Neurology isn't near A&E, it's placed in a rather unusual spot. I assume you've seen my image of it?

 

[MotionlessMike]

Yeah I've seen your pix. I thought it was on a different floor to the other three over that side? No wonder I missed it

 

[Calamity Jane]

Like seeing this place, some great feature in that entrance hall. Nice decay starting in corridors too. You covered quite a lot already. This must be a huge site. Good report, fab photos

 

[Down and beyond]

Nicely done mate good job interesting report !

 

[Seffy]

Well framed sir!

 

[Sanjuni]

In awe about those surgical lights not being smashed to bits with what seems to be a fairly active spot

 

[MotionlessMike]

Like seeing this place, some great feature in that entrance hall. Nice decay starting in corridors too. You covered quite a lot already. This must be a huge site. Good report, fab photos

Nicely done mate good job interesting report !

Well framed sir!

Thanks all

 

[jtza]

Nice one Mike! Time is running out with this one...

 

[Jane Doe]

Love that ... the tiles are beautiful , lovely set of photos and i really love the corridor shots

 

[MotionlessMike]

Nice one Mike! Time is running out with this one...

Will take 'em 12 months to flatten it... Plenty of time for opportunities yet!

 

[HughieD]

That's a bit of a cracker that @MotionlessMike

Plus that bonus chapel is a bit of a bonus too.