The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (ROH) is a National Health Service specialist orthopaedic hospital situated in Northfield, Birmingham, England. The ROH specialises in bone and joint problems.[1]
The hospital's origins in a new convalescent home established by the Crippled Childrens Union at The Woodlands in Northfield in order to treat children with deformities in 1909.[2] The building, dating from 1840, had been donated to the Crippled Childrens Union by George Cadbury, who then moved into Northfield Manor House later in 1909.[3]
The Crippled Childrens Union merged with the Royal Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital to form the Royal Cripples' Hospital at The Woodlands in 1925.[2] After the joining the National Health Service in 1948, the Royal Cripples' Hospital became the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.[4]
A new £8million out-patient department was opened in May 2011. Its 24 consultation rooms, treatment rooms and other facilities replaced the temporary out-patients buildings that had been used since 1992.[5]
Fanny Rebecca Smith (1884–1969), Matron for 23 years from 1925 until 1948.[6][7][8] Smith trained at The London Hospital under Eva Luckes between 1908 and 1910, and remained as a staff nurse for two years.[6][9][10] Before her appointment at Woodlands as matron, Smith was assistant Matron at the Royal Orthopaedic and Spinal Hospital from December 1913.[6][11]
The hospital was named by the Health Service Journal as one of the top hundred NHS trusts to work for in 2015. At that time it had 831 full-time equivalent staff and a sickness absence rate of 4.56%. 84% of staff recommend it as a place for treatment and 67% recommended it as a place to work.[12]
It decided to stop providing paediatric surgery after the West Midlands Quality Review Service report concluded, "that paediatric inpatient surgery would be better delivered in a hospital setting with access to extensive centralised care facilities at all times".[13]
^ abcRogers, 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 A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
^"At Woodlands Fete". [[[Nursing Times]]. 29 (1471): 659. 8 July 1933 – via www.rcn.org.
^"Send off for the Matron". Birmingham Gazette: 3. 26 February 1948 – via www.findmypast.co.uk.
^Fanny Rebecca Smith, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/15, 9; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
^Fanny Rebecca Smith, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/3, 66; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
^Matron’s Annual Letter to Nurses, No.23, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.23, May 1916, 33; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
