Patients and visitors
Leeds General Infirmary
Great George Street,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
LS1 3EX.
(0113) 2432799
Number of beds: 1103
Services
Breast clinic, cardiac surgery, cardiology, chemical pathology and metabolic medicine, child development, cleft lip and palate service, clinical and medical oncology, clinical haematology, clinical health and psychology, clinical immunology and allergy, community paediatrics, cystic fibrosis (paediatrics), cytogenetics laboratory, dental institute, dermatology, diabetes and endocrinology, elderly services, ENT (ear, Nose and Throat), gastro-intestinal medicine, gastro-intestinal surgery, genitor-urinary medicine, gynaecology, histopathology, liaison psychiatry, A&E department, mycology, neonatal medicine, neuro-rehabilitation, neurology, neurophysiology, neurosurgery, obstetrics, occupational therapy, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, paediatric cardiology, paediatric dermatology, paediatric endocrinology, paediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, paediatric medicine, paediatric metabolic medicine, paediatric neurosciences, paediatric respiratory medicine, paediatric rheumatology, paediatric surgery, paediatric urology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, podiatry, radiology, renal services (adult), reproductive medicine, respiratory medicine, rheumatology, speech and language therapy, thoracic surgery, urology, vascular surgery.
Background
The LGI is a specialist regional centre for a number of complex conditions, along with providing many general acute hospital services.
The hospital is highly regarded for its work in providing fertility treatment for patients from across the north of England and is also a designated centre in caring for patients with serious kidney problems and performing kidney transplants.
The hospital's flagship Jubilee Wing opened in 1998 at a cost of £92 million and houses a range of services including an Accident and Emergency department, intensive care facilities, state of the art operating theatres and a new hi-tech High Dependency Unit opened in November 2005. It also brings together some of the country's leading experts in caring for patients with serious brain injuries and heart and lung problems.
The Yorkshire Heart Centre provides services for children and adults with serious heart conditions and through the hospital's partnership with Leeds University has trained some of the world's most renowned heart surgeons.
The centralisation of neurology in summer 2005 from St. James's Hospital means the LGI also continues to lead the way in brain surgery.
History
By far the oldest of the city's hospitals, the history of Leeds General Infirmary dates back to June 1767 when 16 of the town's gentlemen met at the New Inn to discuss setting up 'an Infirmary for the Relief of the Sick and Hurt Poor within this Parish'.
The meeting resulted in an initial subscription of £352. 10s. 6d. and it was quickly resolved to set up a temporary Infirmary at the house of a Mr Andrew Wilson, in Kirkgate.
By December of that year, the Board was already looking for a site for a purpose-built Infirmary, and settled on ground next to the Coloured Cloth Hall (which is now the site of the Post office in City Square). At that time it was almost in open country, with no buildings to spoil the view down to the river.
The foundation stone of the first General Infirmary was laid on 10 October 1768 by Edwin Lascelles, later Baron Harewood, one of the earliest benefactors. The red brick, stone-faced two-storey building opened in March 1771, with just 27 beds. The male wards were named Kings, Princes and Dukes, and the female ones Queens, Princesss and Duchess.
Leeds, though still just a town, was rapidly expanding at the end of the 18th century, and it was soon clear the new hospital would be too small. An extra wing and further storey were added, bringing the number of beds to over 100 by 1785, by which time the Infirmary was being described as "one of the best hospitals in the kingdom".
The continued expansion of the population, together with the coming of the railways, threatened the site of the Infirmary by the 1830s, and in 1845 the Board were informed of plans for creating a Central Railway Station on the hospital site. This was strenuously resisted, and the station was eventually built in 1854 on its current site.
However, the demand for accommodation in the 150 beds was far outstripping supply, with the population of Leeds reaching 207,000 in 1861, with patients also coming to the Infirmary from elsewhere in the West Riding. This led to a bold decision to completely rebuild the hospital on a new site on Great George Street, then known as the Sunny Bank Estate.
The great Victorian hospital which resulted - still an important component of the Infirmary site today - was designed by Mr (later Sir) George Gilbert Scott, taking into account all the latest advice on sanitation and infection control, much of it published by Miss Florence Nightingale, who recommended the pavilion system of wards. Scott had previously designed St Pancras Station in London, to which the Infirmary bears a striking resemblance.
The foundation stone was laid in 1864, and the building was opened in May 1868 by HRH The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. Strangely, the new building did not take up its role immediately, housing the National Exhibition of Works of Art until October of that year. It took until May 1869 before the first patient, a 10-year-old boy from Dewsbury, was admitted to the new Infirmary, permitting the old building (later demolished) to close in a phased way.
The Infirmary of 1868 had cost £122,000, and provided around 300 beds, although once more it was quickly obvious that this was insufficient, and the first of many additions and extensions was planned. New developments such as electric lights and central heating greatly improved the comfort of both patients and staff, and the Infirmary also made great strides in the training of both medical students and nurses. New technology such as X-rays were in use by end of the 19th century, and Lister's views on antiseptics were enthusiastically taken up at the Infirmary, with the result that the overall mortality rate fell despite a huge rise in the number of operations performed.
In 1879, 1885 and 1891 Scottish architect George Corson greatly enlarged the original scope of the Gilbert Scott building. Other notable extensions included the Brotherton Wing, built to house private patients, which was hit by German bombs during an air raid shortly after in opened in 1940, but was fortunately undamaged.
The Martin and Wellcome Wings, both in stark modern styles, opened in the 1960s, and were followed by the Clarendon Wing in the 1980s, bringing women's and childrens services together at the Infirmary for the first time.