Rochford Hospital
Over 150 years of caring for the sick and elderly
By Sue Horncastle
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From the earliest times parishes would have had facilities to care for the sick and infirm elderly poor but this would have been provided in an ad hoc fashion as need arose. The plans for the Union Workhouse included an infirmary but in 1857, some twenty years after the opening of the Rochford Union Workhouse, the Guardians agreed to build a new hospital on the site at a cost of £2,777. It was decided “to abandon the idea of warming the Infirmary with hot water.” Presumably to cut costs. In 1858 the new building was completed and the old infirmery was sold.
By 1884 the Board of Guardians of the workhouse hospital were informed that, “there is insufficient accommodation for the treatment of patients suffering from infectious diseases and further wards are necessary.” However, very little seems to have been done about the overcrowding as, in 1909, “the Medical Officer was instructed to obtain tents should it be necessary for the accommodation of the sick.” A special committee was set up to consider the implications of new Poor Laws which demanded that the workhouse and infirmary should be treated as separate institutions where, “the respectable poor could claim treatment as a right, and where they would be called upon to make such payment as their circumstances allow.”
The number of beds soon proved insufficient and the workhouse chapel had to be used as a female ward. In addition the Guardians agreed to erect a Nurses' Home and Babies' Home at a cost of £4,203. All through 1912 various tenders were received for further extensions to be built on three acres of land bought the previous year to the west of the workhouse for £400. The outbreak of war in 1914 meant some of the hospital facilities had to be handed over to the military authorities. In addition there was an increased demand for treatment for tuberculosis patients which led to some beds also being made available in Southend.
After the war the Ministry of Health demanded better provision for sick patients. This led to further plans for extensions and improvements, this time including an X-ray room. The Guardians were given permission to borrow £20,692 for the necessary work. The extensions were formally opened in 1926 and a further five acres of land belonging to Mrs Sparrow, known as “Potash Meadow”, north of the Infirmary, was bought for £1,500. This time, the new building consisted of facilities which would be recognised today including surgical and medical blocks, an operating theatre and childrens' hospital. By now there was a ratio of one nurse to every five patients and a new Nurses' Home was built. In 1927, Rochford Hospital contained 330 beds and cots.
The hospital had been managed by a Board of Guardians and financed from rates and by voluntary contributions which were often very generous. An Act of Parliament in 1929 passed the management of the hospital to Southend-on-Sea County Borough Council. It would now be paid for entirely from the rates. In 1934 plans for new hospital buildings were agreed at a cost of £234,080 for the first instalment. The next stage of building was completed in 1940 before the full effects of the Second World War were felt. It was not until two years after the end of the war that the full plan was finished. Rochford became the only maternity unit and special care baby unit in the area and an important training hospital for midwives; it was to remain so for over 40 years.
Aerial View of Hospital site in 1972
In 1985 another extension was planned. However, the improvements were cancelled before they were begun because by the early 1990s the decision had been made to demolish the Rochford hospital and pass all the patients to a modernised and extended hospital at Southend-on-Sea. This caused a public outcry and a petition was set up to try to fight the proposals. In the end it was agreed that some of the buildings would be listed as being outstanding examples of architecture from the 1920s to 1940s but the closure of Rochford hospital went ahead. Many of the buildings, including the enormous Nurses' accommodation were destroyed and the land sold for development.
Nurses' Home Demolition
Photo courtesy of Mrs Locke
Many of the Grade II listed buildings became private or sheltered homes but the kitchens still provide meals and part of the hospital, now known as St Luke's, is used for mental health purposes and a day care centre for elderly people. The convenience of a local hospital is much lamented by older residents and the old Rochford Hospital is remembered with affection by many in the area, not least because nearly all of them were born there.
Associated RDCA articles: Rochford Hospital Boiler House / Rochford Union Workhouse
Bibliography: The Hospitals of Southend, Malcolm Jefferies and J. Alfred Lee. Published by Phillimore, 1986. Black and white photos copied from this book.
Audio: My Life in Rochford, full audio interview with Mrs Locke on YouTube