Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre - History

History

For other hospitals named Victoria General Hospital, see Victoria General Hospital.

The current hospital is an amalgamation of four formerly independent hospitals and health care centres; the Victoria General Hospital, the Camp Hill Medical Centre, the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation, and the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre. The former Halifax Infirmary and Camp Hill Hospital had previously merged to form the Camp Hill Medical Centre in 1988.

The Halifax Infirmary was established by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1886 with a new building constructed at the intersection of Queen and Morris Streets in 1903. The Sisters of Charity operated the hospital until it was taken over by the provincial government in 1973. Until 1973, the Halifax Infirmary functioned largely as the city's Roman Catholic hospital. The building was closed when the present Halifax Infirmary on Summer Street opened in 1998; the "new Infirmary" has consolidated all emergency and outpatient services for the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, eliminating duplication between the Infirmary and Victoria General.

Camp Hill Hospital was founded by the Canadian military in 1917 as temporary lodgings for casualties of the First World War. It was constructed on the east side of Robie Street across from Cherry Street and was expanded repeatedly throughout the years. In 1971 the City of Halifax founded the Abbie J. Lane hospital adjacent to Camp Hill on the corner of Jubilee Road (now Veteran's Memorial Lane) and Summer Street. In 1987 the Camp Hill Veterans' Memorial building was opened, and the original Camp Hill facilities were subsequently demolished. The new Veteran's Memorial Building, the Abbie J. Lane Hospital, and the Halifax Infirmary on Queen Street were merged to form the Camp Hill Medical Centre. By 1992, planning had begun for construction of the new Halifax Infirmary building to replace the aging Queen Street facilities and relocate the Infirmary to the Camp Hill Medical Centre Summer Street campus.

The Victoria General Hospital was established in 1887 by the City of Halifax and the provincial government when the former City and Provincial Hospital at Rockhead, on the Northwest Arm was renamed; the City and Provincial Hospital having been established in 1859. In 1948 a new Victoria General Hospital was opened immediately east of the land which would eventually become home to the IWK Health Centre, a children's hospital, on a block bounded by Tower Road, University Avenue and South Street and was the largest hospital in the province in terms of both staff and bed capacity. A hospital parking area was established in the lot between Tower Road and South Park Street; in the 1980s the lot was expanded to physically join with the hospital facilities, effectively dividing Tower Road into two sections north and south of the facility. Historically, "the VG", as it is called, was aligned with the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine as the province's only teaching hospital. The Victoria General Hospital's emergency and outpatient services were closed and consolidated at the new Infirmary site in 1998.

The Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre was formed by a provincial government order in council during a health care administration reorganization in 1994. The amalgamation was formalized by legislation in 1995-96.