The Dudley Guest Hospital is a hospital located in Dudley, West Midlands, England.[1][2][3]
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It is situated in Tipton Road, Dudley and the buildings were originally constructed in 1849 by the Earl of Dudley to accommodate miners blinded in the numerous local coal mines. The miners rejected the Earl's charity, and the buildings remained empty until 1871, when they were taken over by local chainmaker Joseph Guest and turned into a hospital.[4]
In 1908, Tipton pawnbroker Hugh Lewis left his entire estate of £80,000 to the hospital.[5]
Most of the hospital was rebuilt between 1929 and 1939, on the far side not visible from Tipton Road, though part of these new buildings were visible from Birmingham New Road which opened in 1927 and allowed for a second vehicular access point (which was closed in the 1990s).[6] A new pre-fabricated timber/plaster board annex was added in the 1960s.[7]
The hospital's accident and emergency department closed in 1983 and was relocated to the new Russells Hall Hospital. Around this time, fears were rife in the local area that Dudley Guest Hospital was on the verge of closure, but the opening of a new hydrotherapy pool and physiotherapy department later in January 1986 appeared to silence these fears. However, National Health Service officials announced in July 1990 that they were considering closing the hospital (along with nearby Burton Road Hospital, which ultimately closed in December 1993) and relocating services to proposed new buildings at Russells Hall, but the hospital survived another 17 years.[8]
A new horseshoe-shaped extension was opened in 2003, but the old buildings - including the out-patients department - remained in use until October 2007.[9]
Most of the buildings are due to be retained owing to their historic importance, though some of the less significant structures are set to be demolished to make way for a housing development - these include the wards at the rear of the site which were built in the 1930s, as well as the hydrotherapy pool and physiotherapy department. The administration building, former out-patients unit and hospital lodge are set to be retained to form residential properties.[10]
In 2008, it was used to film Ghosthunting with... and stars from I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! ghosthunted in parts of the hospital, just six months after it closed.[11]
Joseph Guest was an English chainmaker who developed his industry in the Black Country of Central England during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. He is most famous for opening the Dudley Guest Hospital in 1871, having bought the buildings from the Earl of Dudley who had built them in 1849 with the intention of housing miners who had been blinded in the local mines, but the miners had rejected this offer and the buildings remained empty for 22 years until Guest purchased them and opened a hospital.