| AdminHistory | Whiston Workhouse was opened in 1843 as a result of the Board of Guardians of the Poor of Prescot buying land at the corner of Warrington Road and Dragon Lane, with the intention of building an Institution and Workhouse. The opening in 1843 resulted in the closure of the workhouses of Bold, Prescot, Much Woolton, Sutton and Windle. The inmates of these institutions were transferred to Whiston Workhouse. In the nineteenth century Whiston Workhouse also housed the mentally ill. It also developed as a Poor Law Infirmary to care for the sick in the days before the National Health Service.
The Local Government Act of 1929 gave local authorities greater powers to provide hospitals. Therefore the function of the Poor Law Board of Guardians was transferred to Lancashire County Council in April 1930 and the Poor Law Infirmary then became known as the County Hospital, Whiston. At this point the hospital was split administratively into the east side containing Maternity and Acute Wards and the west side containing the original Workhouse Infirmary providing for mental and geriatric patients and welfare inmates.
In 1937 facilities were extended to include Out-patients, Casualty, X-Ray, Pathology and an operating-theatre. During World War II provision was also made for military and civilian casualties and prisoners of war. In 1948, as a result of the National Health Service Act, the hospital came under the control of the Ministry of Health. However, Lancashire County Council retained a section of the old Institution under the terms of the Welfare and National Assistance Act; the section was named Delphside.
In 1953 the establishment changed its name again to Whiston Hospital, although the two mental wards were renamed Whiston Mental Hospital. The General and
Mental hospitals merged into one in 1959, so that psychiatric patients were just admitted to Whiston Hospital. There have been innumerable extensions and additional facilities added to the General Hospital since that date. |