Royal Northshore Hospital

The Royal North Shore Hospital is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and has approximately 740 beds. It is the referral hospital for Northern Sydney. Its primary referral area accommodates 5.7% of the Australian population or 17% of the NSW population.

History

The Royal North Shore Hospital began as a cottage hospital located in Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest. The foundation stone was laid by Sir Henry Parkes, 18 June 1887. The hospital was opened with accommodation for 14 patients, with the requisite office and rooms for the medical and nursing staff. Medical staff numbered 4 honorary doctors and nursing staff numbered 5. The site of the original hospital was bounded by Willoughby Rd., Albany and Holterman Streets and Zig Zag Lane. The old site is now a busy part of the commercial centre of Crows Nest.

In 1902 it opened on its current site at St Leonards, with 48 beds available for patients. New departments and wards were added over the next fifty years, reflecting the increasing diversity and professionalisation of healthcare. Polio treatment pioneer Sister Kenny was invited to set up treatment clinics at the hospital in the mid thirties. However she eventually took her research to America after doctors at the hospital refused to admit that her methods indicated that their own treatments had been damaging. Royal North Shore became a teaching hospital of the University of Sydney in 1947.