Queen Alexandra Hospital - History

History

Originally a military hospital, The Queen Alexandra was built in 1904-1908 to replace an earlier hospital which stood in Lion Street in Portsea. The original buildings were of red brick construction, and the site was in a largely rural area, linked to Portsmouth and the surrounding villages (now suburbs) by a tram service.

The demilitarisation of the hospital began in 1926 when it was handed to the Ministry of Pensions, to care for disabled ex-servicemen. The Second World War saw the first civilian patients admitted, and several temporary huts added to the site to increase capacity. As with many makeshift hospitals from the era, the huts stayed in place for several years after the war.

Following the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, all but 100 of the 640 beds were transferred to the NHS in 1951, with the remainder reserved for ex-servicemen. A League of Friends was established one year later. Development of the hospital under the NHS was rapid, and a Cerebral Palsy Unit was built in 1955, with two classrooms, a physiotherapy room, a speech and language therapy room, a staff room, and a kitchen. The unit opened in 1956. This was followed in 1957 by an outpatients unit, and in 1958 by the hospital chapel.

In 1960 the existing buildings were upgraded with a new boiler system. The League of Friends funded two new day rooms, which were added in 1962, when the main block was refurbished. A library was added in 1963.

Later in the 1960s, it was announceed that the Queen Alexandra would become a district general hospital, complete with an Accident and Emergency department. This involved the construction of several new buildings, which began in 1968 with an eye department, a training school for nurses and two three-storey blocks for staff accommodation. A further two accommodation blocks, this time nine storeys high, were added later, being completed in 1976. Only two of the planned three new ward blocks were built.

Patients were transferred from the Royal Portsmouth Hospital in 1979, with the Queen Alexandra Hospital, including a new breast unit, being officially opened a year later by Princess Alexandra. Over the subsequent three years, the South Block was refurbished, culminating in the Trevor Howell Day Hospital opening in 1983. Five years later, a new diabetes unit opened, followed by a rehabilitation unit in 1991.

A further rebuilding of the hospital was announced in 1999, although plans for the new hospital were not agreed until 2005, with an estimated completion date of 2009. Building work is now completed and the new hospital finally opened on 15 June 2009, on time and budget. Some of the original buildings of the military hospital have been demolished to make way for the new main hospital buildings. A new cancer laboratory was opened in 2007.

Finally in October 2009 the new Queen Alexandra Hospital was officially opened by The Princess Royal.

The capital cost of Portsmouth Hospitals National Health Service Trust's private finance initiative (PFI) scheme for the redevelopment of Queen Alexandra Hospital, being carried out by Carillion, is £236 million. The annual payment the trust will make to its private sector under the PFI contract is £32,866,000 million, subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor and other factors such as refinancing. The contract is for 35 years; payment commences after the first three and a half years upon the successful construction and handover of the new facilities to the trust.