GCSE > History > AQA > GCSE History: Medicine and Health in Britain (1000-Present) Topic Summaries > Industrial medicine > Industrial hospitals
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  • During the nineteenth century, many hospitals were funded through endowments (known as endowed hospitals) provided by wealthy individuals, charities, and religious organisations rather than by the government. Endowed hospitals represented a significant change from earlier periods, as they aimed to provide organised medical care rather than simply housing the sick.
  • They became more accessible to the poor, who previously relied on home remedies or parish support, although admission was often restricted to the ‘deserving poor.’
  • Funding from donors allowed hospitals to expand in size, employ trained staff, and invest in better facilities. Hospitals gradually became cleaner with better systems of hygiene, ventilation, and waste disposal.
  • Hospitals increasingly separated patients into different wards according to illness or severity, which helped to limit the spread of infection.
  • The introduction of anaesthetics in the mid-nineteenth century marked a major turning point in surgery as they reduced pain for patients, allowing surgeons to operate more carefully and attempt longer, more complex procedures.
    • Ether was one of the first anaesthetics used, but it was unpleasant and difficult to administer.
    • Thomas Beddoes experimented with nitrous oxide (laughing gas), noting how it made him feel giddy and relaxed, but not recognising its medical value.
    • James Simpson promoted the use of chloroform, which was more effective and easier to use during operations.
      • In 1847, Simpson and his friends were testing different substances at a party when someone knocked over a bottle of chloroform. Simpson’s wife brought them dinner and found them all asleep.
      • Simpson then tested chloroform on himself as a potential anaesthetic to reduce pain during surgery.
      • Chloroform was especially popular as an aid to childbirth, used by Queen Victoria and Emma Darwin (wife of Charles Darwin).
  • Despite major advances, surgery remained dangerous for much of the nineteenth century. Severe bleeding was still a major risk because effective methods to control blood loss were limited. Infection, although reduced by antiseptic and aseptic techniques, continued to be a threat until these methods became widely accepted and consistently used.

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