Cromer and District Hospital (formerly known as Cromer Cottage Hospital) opened in 1932 in the suburb of Suffield Park in the town of

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

within the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. The hospital is run by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and provides an important range of acute consultant and nurse-led services to the residents of the district of

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer. The population at the 2011 Census was 101,149. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It was ...

History

Early history

The hospital has its origins in a medical facility formed from two cottages in Louden Road in 1866. The hospital was rebuilt in Louden Road in 1888 but then moved to a purpose-built facility opened by Lady Suffield at Old Mill Road in 1932. The hospital joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948 and a new out-patients building opened in 1954.

Redevelopment of the site

In 2001 Mrs Sagle Bernstein, a Cromer resident, left £11m to Cromer and District Hospital in recognition of the excellent care that her sister had received as a patient at the hospital. The terms of Mrs Bernstein's will were that it was to be spent on "improvement of general facilities" and could only be spent at Cromer Hospital. Some £500,000 of the legacy was spent on an eight-station

renal The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; bloo ...

dialysis unit which opened in June 2006. The dialysis unit was relocated to the refurbished Barclay ward in January 2011. Following a feasibility study carried out in 2006, a tender competition for the new hospital was undertaken and a

planning application Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

for a £26 million scheme was submitted to

North Norfolk District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

in November 2008. The trust subsequently scaled back the scheme and a revised planning application for a £15 million scheme was submitted to the District Council in June 2009. After the application was approved in May 2010, construction of the works, which were designed by Purcell Miller Tritton and were undertaken by Mansell, part of

Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works acr ...

, started in autumn 2010 and were completed in Autumn 2012.

Notable Staff

When the hospital was reopened in 1888 a succession of

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

trained matrons were appointed until at least 1917.Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons’? A study of Eva Lückes’s influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022) They appear to have been selected because some of the Quaker founders philanthropic interests in both The London Hospital and Cromer Cottage Hospital. Philanthropic individuals who were interested in the management of the cottage hospital and attended the opening of the new cottage hospital in 1888 included Sir Samuel Hoare M.P., and the Buxton and Gurney families, prominent Quaker families. The matrons listed below all trained at The London under

Eva Luckes Eva Charlotte Ellis Luckes (8 July 1854 – 16 February 1919) was Matron of The London Hospital from 1880 to 1919. Early life Eva Abigail Charlotte Ellis Luckes (she herself spelled her name Lückes with the umlaut) was born in Exeter, Dev ...

, an influential matron and friend of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...

's. * Emma Minnedew (1859/1860- ), from March 1889 * Sarah Lambert (1858/1859- ), from 1891 * Mary Thompson, from January 1895 * Jessie Brooks (1864- ), from March 1895 * Sarah Lambert, reappointed in 1902 * May Beatrice Towill (1886-1980), from June 1915May Beatrice Towill, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/3, 287; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London * Elsie Mabel Marriot, from November 1917

References

External links

* {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1932 Hospital buildings completed in 2011 NHS hospitals in England Hospitals in Norfolk University of East Anglia Cromer