Northern General Hospital

Northern General Hospital
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Geography
Location	Fir Vale, Sheffield, Yorkshire and the Humber, England, UK
Organisation
Care system	NHS
Hospital type	Teaching / large acute
Affiliated university	Sheffield Medical School (University of Sheffield) & Faculty of Health and Wellbeing of Sheffield Hallam University.
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	1100
History
Founded	1878 (as Fir Vale Workhouse)[1]
Links
Website	http://www.sth.nhs.uk
Other links	List of hospitals in England

The Northern General Hospital is a large teaching hospital and Major Trauma Centre in Sheffield, England. Its departments include Accident and Emergency for adults, with children being treated at the Sheffield Children's Hospital on Western Bank. The hospital is run by the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, the Jessop Wing, Weston Park Hospital and Charles Clifford Dental Hospital.^[2]

History

The Hospital was established in 1878 as Fir Vale Workhouse, which contained the Smilter Lane and Herries Road Children's Homes.

By 1967 the site contained two hospitals which had developed from the Workhouse: Fir Vale Infirmary and the City General Hospital. This overall entity was then renamed as the 'Northern General Hospital'.^[3]

Departments

The hospital consists of six wings.^[4] Many of the older wings are named after significant families and individuals from Sheffield, particularly in the steel industry:

Hunstman Building

Huntsman Building Entrance, 2016

Named for Benjamin Huntsman, mostly orthopaedics, but also contains the A&E, Surgical Assessment Centre (SAC), X-Ray departments, the theatres, one of four Outpatients' departments, a large dining room and the site's main Medical Records department.

Within the entrance to the Huntsman Building a Boots Pharmacy and shop, a new coffee shop and small cafe are located near the main reception desk. There is an RBS cash machine.

Firth Wing

Named for Mark Firth and containing CCU, Vascular surgery and other surgical wards

Chesterman Wing

Named for James Chesterman. The regional cardiology centre, this consists of inpatient and outpatient facilities.

Vickers Corridor

Named for Edward Vickers, primarily Renal and endocrine diseases well as containing departments of Sheffield Medical School and the Sheffield Kidney Institute. The wing previously housed the SAC (surgical assessment centre) ward before a new Surgical Assessment Unit (SAU) was opened in the Huntsman building in 2010.^[5]

Sorby Wing

named for Henry Clifton Sorby, and containing the renal outpatients unit and the Metabolic Bone Centre

Osborn Building

named for Sir Samuel Osborn Steelmaker, the spinal unit

Brearley Wing

Named for Harry Brearley, and containing the respiratory and rehabilitation wards and a dining area. The Brearley Wing comprises Brearley 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 wings as well as an outpatient department and a specialised Patient Discharge Lounge which aims to move patients out of the ward in into a comfortable waiting area before leaving via private or ambulance transport.

Bev Stokes Day-surgery Unit

The Bev Stokes unit is where day surgeries are carried out meaning an overnight stay can be avoided for the patient.

Critical care department

Contains ICU (intensive care unit), HDU (high dependency unit) and POSU (post operative surgical unit). This custom made department was opened in the summer of 2008 costing £21.3m.^[6]

Hadfield Wing

Named for Sir Robert Hadfield, this is the latest addition and houses departments to be moved from soon-to-be emptied wings of the hospital, and a new neck of femur ward. This structure is 6-storeys tall and contains a full-height atrium, allowing natural light to enter the wards. As part of the redevelopment, the area around was landscaped

Clock Tower Building

Containing dining facilities, Volunteers Office, Medical Secretaries, Security, Human Resources and the hospital's museum

Other buildings

The Longley Centre for psychiatry, the Oakwood Young Peoples Centre, Rivermead Unit, Samuel Fox House and the Medical Education Centre (for undergraduate and postgraduate nursing and medical training), Macmillan Cancer Unit and five outpatients' departments

A Therapy Services OPD for Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy and the Hadfield Wing has been opened. There has been a proposal for a multi-storey car park to alleviate congestion on the site.

Helipad and GP Services

In June 2016, a new £2 million Helipad opened at the hospital.^[7] These funds were raised by the Sheffield Hospital Charity as there was a need for the helipad to be located closer to the Accident and Emergency Department owing to the hospital's status as a Major Trauma Centre. This replaced the old helipad located directly to the south of the Macmillan Palliative Care Unit, this helipad was deemed unsuitable for an MTC as it was classed as a 'secondary helipad', meaning patients would be transferred to A&E from the helipad via an ambulance.

Within the structure is housed a new out of hours GP centre for patients with more minor illnesses, this is hope to alleviate pressure on A&E and cut down waiting times for patients.^[8]

Affiliated Universities

• Sheffield Hallam University, a local provider of courses and training for allied health professionals such as nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics, which provides postgraduate study in professions allied to medicine.
• University of Sheffield, a local provider of medical and nursing training and postgraduate study. The Samuel Fox Building is the main building for the University within the Hospital grounds.

Travel

Public transport

The hospital is served directly by First South Yorkshire and Stagecoach Yorkshire buses mainly.^[9]

There is also a specific service that travels between the two main trust sites, the H1.^[10] This service is free for NHS staff.

References

External links

• Sheffield's Fir Vale Workhouse & old Hospital
• Sheffield Hospitals Charitable Trust

Coordinates: 53°24′39″N 1°27′30″W / 53.41083°N 1.45833°W / 53.41083; -1.45833