Broomfield Hospital

Broomfield Hospital is the general hospital for Chelmsford, England and the surrounding areas. It is the largest within the Mid Essex Hospitals Services Trust and is an 800-bed acute hospital which offers a wide range of services. The world-renowned St. Andrew's Centre - a specialist unit for cleft lip and palate, burns and plastic surgery - is also located at Broomfield Hospital.HistoryBroomfield Hospital, originally known as Essex County Hospital was opened in 1940 as a hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. It was due to open in 1937, but this was delayed due to the Second World War. Until 1959 all the patients in the 312 beds were male and length of stay ranged from six months to four years. The hospital was soon working to full capacity and was the only centre for chest surgery for pulmonary tuberculosis in Essex. Towards the end of the World War II ar 50 per cent of patients were ex-servicemen. The Hospital's first physician superintendent and administrator was Dr William Lyall Yell.The hospital was built with south facing “butterfly” wings that caught the sun for the benefit of the tuberculosis patients. Even during the winter months patients were wheeled out onto the balconies. Fresh air, bed rest and good food were part of their treatment and a lot of the food for the patients was grown on the hospital farm.As the incidences of tuberculosis declined, the hospital developed and acute general care gradually became the focus for the hospital. Following the creation of the National Health Service in 1948, the hospital became the responsibility of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. 1959 saw the first female patients and the delivery of six babies. in 1960 Broomfield became a General Hospital and training for nursing was established at the hospital. During the 1960s the hospital dealt with more general surgery, orthopaedics and general medicine. Extensions to the hospital included a large outpatients clinic, geriatric wards and most wards now had emergency cover.