Whiteabbey Hospital is a hospital located close to the village of Whiteabbey, within the town of Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. The hospital first opened in 1907 as The Abbey Sanitorium, centred around a country house known as 'The Abbey'. The house has stood on the site from 1850, and was once the residence of prominent architect Charles Lanyon. The hospital was extended and several buildings added throughout the early 20th century, and it was renamed Whiteabbey Hospital in 1947. The hospital is managed by the Northern Health and Social Care Trust. Many healthcare services have been withdrawn from the hospital, most recently with the closure of the Minor Injuries Unit in 2014.
History
The Abbey, Whiteabbey
The Abbey was designed by the renowned architect Charles Lanyon in 1850 for Richard Davison, the Conservative MP for Belfast at the time. The house is a large two storey mansion with an Italian architectural style. Charles Lanyon bought the house himself in 1862 and lived in the house with his family until his death in 1889. Following Lanyon's death, the house was sold at auction in Belfast, and lay derelict until 1897 when it was purchased by the Granville Hotel Company, who intended to convert the house into a private tuberculosis treatment centre. By the turn of the century, tuberculosis was the most pressing health problem in the UK and Ireland, but the hospitals of the time were unable to cope with the volume of patients who had the disease. Most TB patients were nursed in cramped, crowded hospital wards. It was soon realised that Belfast needed a dedicated hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis, and in 1904 The Abbey was purchased by Belfast Union to function as a sanitorium.
Whiteabbey Sanitorium
Plans were drawn up to build 4 pavilions and a two-storey hospital block to accommodate 265 patients, with work commencing in March 1906. The Abbey was converted into an administration block with accommodation for doctors and nurses also provided. The sanitorium opened in 1907 as an auxiliary workhouse for the treatment of tuberculosis. The 1907 annual report for 'The Abbey Sanitorium for pulmonary tuberculosis' stated that 311 patients were treated at the hospital, and 31 of those patients had died over the course of the year. The visiting physician (doctor in charge) at the time was Robert Hall, who had first suggested in 1900 it would be better for tuberculosis patients to be treated in their own specialised hospital. On 1 October 1913, the management of the sanitorium was transferred to Belfast Corporation (Belfast City Council), who decided to rename the hospital 'Belfast Municipal Sanitorium' to reflect its role as the main treatment centre for tuberculosis in Belfast. The numbers of patients treated at Whiteabbey each year grew steadily with 519 patients admitted in 1928, and the average duration of residence lasting 176 days.
By the 1930s it had become clear that the pavilions were unsuitable for nursing seriously ill patients, and widespread criticism was made of the standard of care received by some patients. In 1941 a six-month inquiry identified a catalogue of failings at the sanitorium, blaming the Belfast Corporation for its poor management of the facility. In 1943, Brice Clark was appointed chief physician, and in 1946 the newly established Northern Ireland Tuberculosis Authority took over the running of the sanitorium. The sanitorium was renamed Whiteabbey Hospital in 1947.
Whiteabbey Hospital School
An open air school existed within the grounds of the hospital, allowing the children to continue their education and spend time outside in the fresh air, which at the time was one of the main treatments available for tuberculosis. The school was closed in 1949, with the remaining pupils transferred to the school at Crawfordsburn Hospital, a nearby children's hospital. The number of children residing at Whiteabbey hospital increased following the school's closure, and in 1954 the school was re-established until the children's tuberculosis ward was closed in 1968.