City Hospital
City hospital has provided care for patients since it opened in 1889 as the Birmingham Union Infirmary, an extension to the workhouse based on the site. It originally comprised of a single corridor stretching for a quarter of a mile with nine ward blocks on either side along its length, a configuration recommended by Florence Nightingale. The infirmary later became the Dudley Road Infirmary, then Dudley Road Hospital and, more recently, City Hospital.
Today’s hospital provides a very broad array of clinical and support services including:
Accident and Emergency
Paediatrics (services for children)
Obstetrics and gynaecology (women’s reproductive health, including pregnant women))
Neo-natal (intensive care for babies)
General surgery
Breast surgery
Trauma and orthopaedics (serious injury or bone/joint problems)
Vascular surgery (via the blood vessels)
Urology (kidneys, bladder, prostate etc)
Plastic surgery
Ophthalmology (dealing with the eyes)
Ear, nose and throat
Oral surgery
Emergency medicine
General medicine
Elderly care
Cardiology (the heart)
Respiratory (breathing)
Renal (kidneys)
Diabetes
Rheumatology (joint problems)
Neurology (nerve problems)
Gastroenterology (digestive problems)
Dermatology (skin problems)
Haematology (blood disorders)
Oncology (cancer treatments)
Anaesthetics/critical care
Imaging (eg X-ray, MRI, CT)
Pathology (diseases)
Therapy
City Hospital is also home to the Birmingham Treatment Centre, Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, Regional Gynae-Oncology Centre, West Midlands Poison Unit, and Skin Centre. It is also a major facility for sickle cell treatment in the region.
