history_yorkhill_1882-2015

The day the soldiers marched to the dispensaryA group of probationer nurses in 1917.On the move to YorkhillThe drive towards better public healthwas, strangely, partly prompted by thenumber of volunteers for the Boer Warwho were turned down on the groundsof being unfit through ill health.The first annual inspection of schoolchildren in Glasgow took place in1904 and it was found that morethan half of those deemedunfit had never seen a doctor.The remedy for such a problem wassocial rather than medical but as plansfor a new hospital at Yorkhill tookshape, the day was coming whenGlasgow would play a pioneering rolein the treatment of children’s diseases.By the early 20th century it hadbecome clear that the hospital had12outgrown its Garnethill building.Just over 70 cots could not cope witha population of almost two million inGlasgow and the west of Scotland.By 1907 there were always between100 and 200 patients on thetwo-month waiting list.An appeal for £100,000 was launchedand after inspecting a number ofpotential sites the board purchaseda 19 acre site containing “the bestand highest parts of the landsof Yorkhill” for £16,000.Among many city architect firmsbidding to design the new building wasCharles Rennie Mackintosh’s, but hewas to be rejected in favour of theAn early ambulance outside the new hospital at Yorkhill.father and son firm of John JamesBurnet. Between them they designeda number of great buildings in the cityincluding the Clydesdale Bank onSt Vincent Street, Cleveden Terrace,the Academy of Music and theWestern Infirmary.Burnet and his team toured Europe,particularly Germany, in search of themost modern ideas in hospital designand settled on the pavilion system,with widely spaced ward blocks linkedby broad corridors, maximising lightand air. There were 12 wards with312 cots and two operating theatres.The cost £140,000 – was more than tentimes its predecessor at Garnethill.The new Royal Hospital for SickChildren (RHSC) was opened inJuly 1914, weeks before the outbreakof war, by King George V and QueenMary. A crowd of 10,000 attendedthe opening including the usualdignitaries, Boy Scouts, Guides,and even the builders were affordeda grandstand of their own.Just four weeks after the openingceremony World War One beganand it was to be four years before theRHSC would be fully functionalas a children’s hospital.Instead, the military authoritiescommandeered four wards forthe treatment of army and navalofficers. Bearing in mind the hospitalhad been designed for children thisnecessitated the purchase of biggerbeds, mattresses and blanketsand also alterations to the sizeof the toilets!On one occasion in 1916advance news of a Zeppelin raidprompted staff to hurriedly evacuatethe children to the basement but intheir rush they forgot to label them.When the all clear sounded and theyreturned to the wards many of themhad to be re-diagnosed. The militaryoccupation of the Dispensary wasmuch shorter. One day soldiers fromMaryhill barracks were marcheddown to West Graham Street andafter a short interval marched backminus their tonsils.Peace was declared in late 1918 but itwas several years before the militaryoccupation ended and the hospitalcould revert to its intended use forthe sole treatment of children.Passing the time on one of the old wards.Crowds at RHSC wait to greet the King andQueen on their visit to Glasgow in 1927.13