| Administrative History | Chester City Hospital originated in the Chester Poor Law Union workhouse. The Chester Union was formed in 1869, and in 1877 - 78, a workhouse was built in Hoole Lane, to replace the existing workhouse near the Roodee, which was becoming increasingly inadequate. The workhouse was designed to hold 500 inmates, and comprised five large red brick buildings (See Post Office Directory of Cheshire, 1878, p.105). Later additions included a hospital, and an extra-parochial chapel dedicated to St.James the Less, which was consecrated in 1880. By 1930, the institution consisted of eight blocks of buildings, occupying an area of approximately twelve acres.
Following the Local Government Act, 1929, Poor Law Unions were abolished, and the Public Assistance Committee of Chester Corporation assumed responsibility for poor relief. On 1 April 1930, the Corporation took over the premises in Hoole Lane, and under the new administration, a clear distinction was made between the workhouse buildings and the hospital, which were administered separately, and referred to as St.James' House and St.James' Hospital.
During the 1930's, the hospital gradually came to be known as the City Hospital, and plans were made to appropriate it for the general use of the public under the Public Health Acts, 1875 and 1925. This took place on 1 January 1937, when the hospital's administration was transferred from the Public Assistance Committee to the Public Health Committee of Chester Corporation. Following the National Health Service Act, 1946, control of the City Hospital was transferred to the Hospital Management Committee of the Regional Hospital Board, on 5 July 1948. By this time, the City Hospital comprised the whole of the former work-house buildings, the inmates of St.James' House having been transferred to Sealand House, formerly the Isolation Hospital.
During the 1950's, the City Hospital's services expanded considerably. A paediatric unit, a department for diseases of the chest, and a modern chest clinic were established, in addition to a pathological laboratory, and an X-ray department.
Following the opening of the new general wing at the West Cheshire Hospital in January 1983, the City Hospital ceased to be a general hospital, and now specialises in geriatric cases. |