St David's Hospital, Cardiff

St David's Hospital
St David's Hospital
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
	The Grade II listed entrance building of the previous St David's Hospital, now converted into apartments
	Shown in Cardiff
Geography
Location	Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°28′51″N 3°11′29″W / 51.4808°N 3.1914°W
Organisation
Care system	Public NHS
Type	General
History
Opened	1839
Links
Lists	Hospitals in Wales

St David's Hospital (Welsh: Ysbyty Dewi Sant) is a health facility in Canton, Cardiff, Wales. It is managed by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The original main block is a Grade II listed building.^[1]

History

Original hospital

Cardiff created its own Poor Law Union in 1836 and the new Cardiff Union Workhouse, which was built on Cowbridge Road at a cost of £7,500, opened in 1839.^[2] Because of the growing population of the area, in 1862 child inmates were relocated to the Ely Industrial Schools. In 1872 an infirmary for the sick was added to the northwest of the workhouse, with 164 beds.^[3]

The building was expanded in 1881, including a new entrance building on the Cowbridge Road frontage with a 3-storey tower and clock face.^[1] New accommodation included a committee room, waiting rooms and attendants' offices.^[3] The architects were James, Seward & Thomas and the exterior design had similarities to Seward's 1883 Cardiff Infirmary, though using cheaper materials.^[4] The buildings were further expanded in 1890 and, by 1908, the workhouse had a capacity for over 1,000 inmates.^[3]

The hospital joined the National Health Service as St David's Hospital in 1948.^[5] Notable people born in the maternity unit at St David's Hospital include Wales footballer, Ryan Giggs, who was born there in 1973.^[6] It closed in the early 1990s and the majority of the old buildings were demolished, leaving the Victorian entrance building and clock tower. This fell into disrepair and was the target of vandalism, but in 2002 it was refurbished and converted into apartments.^[7]

Modern hospital

A modern facility, located to the rear of the old hospital, was commissioned under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 1999. The facility, which was designed by HL Design and built by Macob Construction^[8] at a cost of £16 million,^[9] opened on Saint David's Day 2002.^[10]

Facilities included 100 beds, initially for mental health patients (transferred from Royal Hamadryad Hospital) and the elderly (from Lansdowne Hospital) but also including children's services, therapies and dental services.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b "Surviving Block of former St David's Hospital, Riverside". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
^ Shepley, Nick (2014), The Story of Cardiff, The History Press, p. 155, ISBN 978-0-750954471
^ ^a ^b ^c "Cardiff, Glamorgan". Workhouses.org.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
^ Newman, John (1995), The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan, Penguin Books, p. 279, ISBN 0-14-071056-6
^ "Happy 60th birthday, NHS". The Independent. London. 29 June 2008. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
^ Giggs, Ryan (2005), "Cardiff born", Giggs: The Autobiography, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-191166-3
^ Jones, Robert (1 September 2001). "Clocktower converts to luxury". Western Mail. Wales. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
^ "St David's Hospital at Cardiff". HL Design. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
^ "Billion-pound PFI debt 'mortgaging future of Wales'". Wales Online. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
^ ^a ^b "New hospital opens doors". BBC News. 2 March 2002. Retrieved 10 December 2014.