Liverpool Hospitals - Alder Hey

The extension of the nurses home in 1926

 

In 1910 the Board of Poor Law Guardians purchased Alder Hey, a mansion set on 25 acres of land in West Derby, Liverpool, with the intention of building a new workhouse for the city’s poor. The plans included an area dedicated to caring for the paupers' sick children. Later, in October 1914, a new modern hospital was erected and opened taking in 350 children over twelve wards, admitted from the workhouse, their home or transferred from Walton Hospital. After the outbreak of The Great War, in 1915 the War Office sanctioned an interesting experiment in military surgery. Liverpool had always held the lead in bone surgery work and the hospital opened its doors so the building could also serve as a USA military hospital known as 'Camp Hospital 40', although the wards designed for caring for children retained their purpose. The American military camp was operated by Hospital Unit Q and, subsequently, Unit W. It was the only centre of its kind established on behalf of the victims of war. Following the war the building was firmly established as a children's hospital and called Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. It continued to grow and in October 1924, a decade after opening, the nurses' home was expanded so there were more staff to look after Liverpool’s sick children.

circa 1959

During World War II, Alder Hey was used to care for Allied and German soldiers (guarded by US police). With accommodation at a maximum, ten extra brick huts were built at the far end of the hospital to house the military. Any soldiers well enough would help carry children to shelters during air raids. Penicillin was tested on a child for the first time at Alder Hey in 1944 saving a child from pneumonia. Following the establishment of the NHS in 1948, Alder Hey established the world’s first neonatal surgical intensive care unit in 1953 and this unit has saved thousands of lives. The opening was largely due to the efforts of Isabella Forshall, a paediatric surgeon. During the 1950s cardiac surgery was pioneered at Alder Hey which then celebrated its Jubilee year with a celebration at Liverpool Cathedral in 1964. Alder Hey was never short of celebrities to come and brighten up the children's days. Visits in the 1970s included three-time Grand National winner Red Rum and Doctor Who star Tom Baker. After Princess Diana surprised children on a visit to Alder Hey on the 11th of September 1990, in 1993 Ronald McDonald House opened next to the hospital to provide a home away from home for the families of sick children being treated at the hospital. It initially had just 26 bedrooms but has expanded twice, offering accommodation to 84 families each night.

In 2006 footballer Wayne Rooney and his then girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin officially open a new neurology unit at Alder Hey, adding to the number of pioneering services available at the hospital.

After announcing its desire for a new hospital building, other sites were considered before it was decided the hospital would be rebuilt on Springfield Park, next to the current site. It was in 2013 that the plans to rebuild Alder Hey were approved and work began to create a new £237m hospital containing 270 beds in total with 48 beds for children in the intensive care, high-dependency and burns units. There would be 16 digitally enhanced operating theatres to provide life-saving treatment to thousands of children a year. 70% of children at the hospital will be given their own private, en-suite bedrooms. It was on the 1st of October 2015 that the new hospital opened its doors and was officially opened on the 22nd of June 2016 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2025/07/liverpool-hospitals-fazakerley-hospital.html