Flashback to January 1998

Sheila Jones of Telford had never been to hospital before. But when she did, she made a little piece of history.

On Friday, January 23, 1998, the 68-year-old became the last patient to undergo routine surgery at the Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in Shrewsbury.

Services were being transferred from the deteriorating Victorian building at Town Walls to the main Royal Shrewsbury Hospital site in a £700,000 relocation scheme.

The last outpatients clinic was held at the old hospital during that week and routine operations were performed there for the last time on that Friday.

Fourteen were carried out, the final one being on Mrs Jones, from Donnington.

As she was being prepared for theatre she said: “I am feeling very nervous. It is the first time in my life that I have had to come into hospital.”

Operating was clinical director and ENT surgeon Bill Neil.

“It’s a bit sad to see things closing but everyone is looking forward to the move,” he said. Mrs Jones was allowed home after her operation.

While operations were under way removal men in other parts of the building were taking out equipment and furniture.

A total of 150 full and part-time staff were moving up to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The hospital remained open for a few days to deal with emergencies and provide a casualty service before shutting for good on January 30, although the audiology clinic did not close until March 6.

The plan then was to put up the distinctive building for sale, which is of course what happened.

The closure of the building had been talked about for many years but the relocation of services became urgent as structural repairs put an ever increasing financial strain on the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Trust.

The Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital was built in 1881 and dealt with up to 1,000 patients a week. And incidentally that was the correct title for it, as evidenced by the wording on the building, although for many people "the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital" tripped off the tongue more easily.

The building itself had for a long time been considered an unsuitable place in which to administer modern treatment.

The hospital's roots went back to earlier in the 19th century, as it started life as an Eye and Ear Dispensary in 1818 in a building next to the old Raven Hotel in Castle Street.

The dispensary stayed in Castle Street until it moved to Dogpole in 1862. It was during its 19-year stay at Dogpole that plans for a purpose-built hospital germinated.

A public fund was launched and £12,000 later in 1881 the Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital for Shropshire and Wales – as it was officially known –was born.

The unusual facade of the building was the result of a competition staged for architects to come up with the best design for a "modern" hospital.

Specifications for the design had to meet the latest medical thinking, plenty of fresh air, space and hygiene.

The result was a hospital on the edge of The Quarry with high ceilings and its own sewage system.

Its neo-Gothic appearance, which even today raises eyebrows, was very distinctive in red Ruabon brick with terracotta dressings, towers, overhanging gables, verandahs and gargoyles, many of which were lost over the years.

It initially catered for the poor and needy, dispensing medicine and help even if little early surgery was carried out.

Forty years after its birth it was extended with an extra 10 beds including private wards, with further extensions five years later for special opthalmic cases.

By the early stages of the Second World War it had two operating theatres, an X-ray department, nurses home – in a private house – and a 46-bed complement.

A feature of the hospital was to name wards after eminent surgeons of the day.

After its closure the building was bought by Shropshire Homes and converted into prestigious apartments in an 18-month development which was officially completed in March 2002. The development, called Kingsland Bridge Mansions, won an award for architectural merit.

And it saw a distinctive feature restored to the former hospital. The spire or tower top was taken down in November 1959 by its then owners as it was too expensive to repair and served no purpose.

But the developers, as part of their planning permission, were asked to restore and return the spire to its former resting place to complete the development.

The spire was rebuilt in 2001 and once again took pride of place on the top of the landmark building.