AGY-6809 | Tamworth Hospital

Full description

The first hospital in Tamworth was established by 1840 by the Australian Agricultural Company, which had extensive land holdings on the western side of the Peel River. (1)

In April 1851, the Tamworth Benevolent Society was established 'for the relief of sick and destitute persons, who will receive temporary accommodation and medical attendance at Tamworth'. (2) In appealing for subscribers, the society stated its intention to 'erect premises on a suitable but economical plan'. (3) In the Society's first annual report, read at its annual meeting on 2 March 1852, it was reported that the AA Company had allowed the use of 'very commodious' premises for a period of three years, and that government assistance would be forthcoming. However, the Society's finances were presently in such a poor state that it was decided that admissions to the 'temporary' hospital would be restricted to cases from the Police District of Tamworth. (4) In May 1852, the Society repaired the buildings provided by the AA Company and subsequently accepted admissions of both indigent and paying patients. (5)

By 1853, the Tamworth Benevolent Society had received some government assistance, allocated 100 pounds under the Appropriation Act of 1853. (6) The same amount was voted the following year. (7) These amounts were subject to the same sums being raised by private contributions. The better financial situation would allow the Society to provide care to a wider area (8), and discussions soon centred on the erection of a new general hospital. (9) The Appropriation Act of 1855 allocated an amount of 300 pounds for the 'erection of a Public Hospital at Tamworth' (10). In June 1855, tenders were called (11) and, on 4 September, the foundation stone was laid. (12) It had been decided in August 1854 that the hospital would be built on the eastern side of the Peel River rather than on company land. (13)

In November 1856, the Society advertised for a matron and wardsman for the new hospital (14) and, in December, the Legislative Assembly voted further funds for its completion. (15) The building was completed by March 1857 (16) and opened for patients on 1 April. (17)

On 30 July 1862, the provisions of the Hospitals Act 11 Vic No. 59 (1848) were extended, by proclamation, to the 'Tamworth Hospital'. (18)

By the mid-1870s, the Tamworth Benevolent Society was considering the erection of a new hospital (19) and, in May 1878, the sum of 2500 pounds was allocated for this purpose on the usual condition that an equal amount was raised by private contributions. (20) In November 1881, a new site in the town's north was dedicated for the new hospital. (21)

The proposed hospital was to be built in the Gothic style and include two 10-bed male wards, a 4-bed female ward, a paying patients ward and nurses accommodation. (22) In November 1883, a tender was accepted for the erection of the new hospital (23) and the new facility was officially opened on 10 November 1884. (24) The hospital underwent a number of subsequent additions and alterations, including an infectious diseases ward and new nurse and staff accommodation in the 1890s (25), and major renovations, completed in 1911, which included a new 18-bed male ward. (26)

In 1898, the Public Hospitals Act consolidated previous Acts relating to public hospitals, listing Tamworth hospital on its Second Schedule. (27)

By 1910, Tamworth Hospital appears to have become known, at least colloquially, as the Tamworth District Hospital. (28) At its meeting on 14 October 1912, the hospital committee noted that the hospital's bank account needed to be changed from 'Tamworth Benevolent Society and Hospital' to 'Tamworth District Hospital', indicating a formal name change by this time and the removal of any reference to the Benevolent Society. (29)

As early as March 1928 Tamworth Hospital had been formally recognised by the Nurses' Registration Board as a training school for general nurses (30) and, by January 1959, had also been recognised as a training school for Assistants in Nursing (later known as Nursing Aides). (31)

In 1929, the hospital was listed on the Second Schedule of the new Public Hospitals Act as 'The Tamworth District Hospital'. (32) Second Schedule hospitals were those which derived their corporate being by incorporation in terms of the authority contained in the Act. They were governed by Boards of directors appointed by the Government. (33)

In its first Annual Report following its establishment by the Public Hospitals Act 1929, the Hospitals Commission of NSW, in developing a scheme of classification to 'fit the conditions prevailing in the State', classified Tamworth as a Base A country Acute hospital. Base A hospitals were those with a daily average of 40 and over occupied beds, with specific medical staff appointments, including medical officers in charge of special departments, a training school for nurses with X-ray and laboratory facilities capable of serving other than ordinary routine hospital demands, and with maternity and children's accommodation. (34) For the year ending 30 June 1930, the Hospitals Commission reported that Tamworth had a bed capacity of 80 and that it had treated 1686 in-patients, had 4376 out-patient attendances and that five babies had been born. (35)

In support of the Hospital Commission's policy of decentralising hospital services, base hospitals were established in certain country centres to provide for all essential and a range of specialised services. Tamworth was one of four such hospitals gazetted by the mid-1930s, the others being Newcastle, Lismore and Orange. (36) Although classified as 'base', Government Gazette notices until the mid-1930s refer to the hospital as Tamworth District. From that time, both Tamworth District and Tamworth Base are used, though by the early 1940s the latter name predominates.

Further developments at the hospital included extensive alterations and additions in the early 1940s, which greatly expanded the private and intermediate wards section and added a new maternity unit and children's wards. (37)

By 1994, the hospital's management considered that, due to its size, complexity of admissions, its training role and substantial patient inflows from a wide geographical area, the facility had developed beyond the old base hospital concept and should be better described as a Major Regional Referral Centre. (38)

In 2013, construction began on a redevelopment of the Tamworth Health Service to provide new facilities for essential services including emergency, surgery, maternity and paediatrics. (39) The centrepiece of this redevelopment, the Acute Services Building, was completed in mid-2015. (40) The next stage of the redevelopment was to include a refurbishment of the historic 1883 building. (41)

In 2016, Tamworth Hospital was described as the major Rural Referral Hospital providing services to the North West of New South Wales. It had 288 beds, was a teaching hospital associated with the universities of Newcastle and New England and provided high level surgical and medical services covering a wide range of sub-specialities, a cardiac catheterization laboratory, intensive care, paediatrics, an obstetric unit, renal dialysis services, rehabilitation, an adult mental health unit, and an integrated cancer centre including medical and radiation oncology services. (42)

Endnotes
1. Tamworth and Districts Early History, Tamworth Regional Council, September 2006, pp. 16, 35 http://www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/479/Tamworth-and-Districts-Early-History.pdf.aspx (accessed 29 June 2016).
2. 'The Benevolent Society Instituted at Tamworth' in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 30 April 1851, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/684233 (accessed 1 July 2016).
3. Loc. cit.
4. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 13 March 1852, p.4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/672680 (accessed 1 July 2016).
5. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 March 1853, p.2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/664125 (accessed 1 July 2016).
6. Appropriation (1853) Act 1852 (16 Vic. No.40), assented to on 17 December 1852.
7. Appropriation (1854) Act 1853 (17 Vic. No.38), assented to on 11 November 1853.
8. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 March 1853, p.2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/664125 (accessed 1 July 2016).
9. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 15 March 1854, p.4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/686798 (accessed 1 July 2016).
10. Appropriation (1855) Act 1854 (18 Vic. No.34), assented to on 1 December 1854.
11. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 4 July 1855, p.2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/703073 (accessed 1 July 2016).
12. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 12 September 1855, p.1 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/705998 (accessed 1 July 2016).
13. 'Tamworth Benevolent Society' in Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 1854, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12954511 (accessed 1 July 2016).
14. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 29 November 1856, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18653354 (accessed 1 July 2016).
15. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 December 1856, p.4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18638212 (accessed 1 July 2016).
16. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 17 March 1857, p.1 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18655099 (accessed 1 July 2016).
17. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 8 September 1857, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18645430 (accessed 1 July 2016).
18. NSW Government Gazette No.131, 5 August 1862, p.1416.
19. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 26 January 1875, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18791445 (accessed 1 July 2016).
20. Appropriation Act of 1878 (41 Vic. No.24), Section III (114).
21. NSW Government Gazette No.468, 18 November 1881, p.5921.
22. 'Tamworth' in Illustrated Sydney News, 4 August 1883. P.6 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/64034745/5786876 (accessed 1 July 2016).
23. 'Brevities' in Evening News, 15 November 1883, p.3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108836597 (accessed 1 July 2016).
24. Evening News, Tuesday 11 November 1884, p.4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107278401 (accessed 1 July 2016).
25. 'Brevities' in Evening News, 21 July 1892, p.5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/112597673 (accessed 1 July 2016); The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 17 September 1898, p.677 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/163809707 (accessed 1 July 2016).
26. The Tamworth Daily Observer, 27 October 1911, p.2 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/109559216 (accessed 1 July 2016).
27. Public Hospitals Act 1898 (Act No.16, 1898), Section 3(a), Second Schedule.
28. For example: Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 1910, p.9 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15166785 (accessed 1 July 2016).
29. The Tamworth Daily Observer, 17 October 1912, p.4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/109620484 (accessed 1 July 2016).
30. List of Hospitals Recognised as Training Schools by the Nurses' Registration Board of New South Wales, 15 March 1928. NSW Government Gazette No.40, 23 March 1928, p.1369.
31. NSW Government Gazette No.3, 9 January 1959, p.54.
32. Public Hospitals Act 1929 (Act No.8, 1929), s.4, Second Schedule.
33. Report of the Hospitals Commission of New South Wales for the year ended 30 June 1965, p.15 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1965-66, p.29.
34. Annual Report of the Hospitals Commission for the year ended 30 June 1930, pp.6-8 in Parliamentary Papers 1930-31-32 vol.1, p.629.
35. Annual Reports of the Hospitals Commission of New South Wales for the years ended 30th June 1932 and 30th June 1933, p.25 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1934-35 vol.1, p.545.
36. Report of the Hospitals Commission of New South Wales for the Years ended 30th June 1934, 30th June 1935 and 30 June 1936 pp.8-9 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1938-39-40 vol.5 p.663.
37. Annual Report of the Department of Works and Local Government for the year Ended 30th June 1940, pp.22-23 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1940-41 vol.3 p.67.
38. North West Health Service Annual Report 1994-95, p.2.
39. NSW Health Annual Report 2012-13, p.160.
40. NSW Health Annual Report 2014-15, p.205
41. Hunter New England Local Health District - Tamworth Health Service Redevelopment http://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/about/Pages/Tamworth-Health-Service-redevelopment.aspx (accessed 7 July 2016).
42. Hunter New England Local Health District - About Tamworth Hospital http://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/Global/internship/WORKFORCE TRAINING - Recruitment and Selection - Tamworth Hospital - Info on facility for RPR webpage.PDF (accessed 8 July 2016).