PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Homeopathic medicine had been practised in Plymouth since the 1850s, when a Doctor Morgan moved to the Town from Bath and set up a practice. A dispensary was opened in 1870 and such was the demand that it had to move to larger premises in 1878. Again, such was the demand that people used to have to wait in the street outside. It moved again in 1884 to a 10-bed hospital cum dispensary from which some 4,000 home visits were carried out in 1889 in addition to the 9,000 patients treated at the dispensary. Finally in 1893 the premises in Lockyer Street were purchased and converted into a hospital, where in 1900 some 15,000 patients were seen. Resident medical staff were appointed for the first time in 1902 and it thus ceased to be classified as a "Cottage" hospital. There were facilities in the building for carrying out surgical operations. The Hospital was once again enlarged, this time in 1911. During the First World War the nature of the Hospital changed as the surgical side increased at the expense of the homeopathic side and in 1919 it changed its name to the Devon and Cornwall Homeopathic and General Hospital. In 1925 it became known as the Central Hospital, reflecting more on its location that its purpose. In July 1934 it became an annex of the City's Prince of Wales' Hospital, Greenbank. In the 1960s the building on the corner of Lockyer Street was used as the Gynaecological unit but it closed in the 1970s. It is currently used as private dwellings.
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