With the NHS celebrating its 70th birthday today, Thursday, the Warrington Guardian has taken a look back at some of the key milestones that have shaped healthcare in the town since 1948.

  • 1948 - Warrington’s hospitals, sanatorium and maternity home are transferred to the Hospital Management Committee on July 5
  • 1952 - Winwick Hospital, which had nearly 2,000 patients and 759 staff members, celebrates its 50th anniversaryWarrington Guardian:
  • 1953 - Warrington Hospital’s League of Friends is formed to supply patients with supplies such as toiletries and pressure cushions during their stays
  • 1955 - Warrington MP Dr Edith Summerskill makes a speech in parliament regarding the issue of air pollution in the town, and the damage it was causing to the health of residents
  • 1957 - Radio General is launched at Warrington Hospital
  • 1967 - The Smoke Act encourages industries to reduce the amount of pollution they emit, and Warrington becomes the first town to bring in smoke control over a 10-year period
  • 1973 - Three hospitals are amalgamated under the new Warrington District General Hospital. Aitken Street Hospital is demolished to make way for the Appleton wing of the current Warrington Hospital.
  • 1974 - Construction work on the new Warrington District General Hospital begins. Winwick Hospital establishes its community psychiatric nursing service to follow up on patients who have been discharged.
  • 1979 - Warrington General Hospital’s new radiology and outpatients departments open
  • 1980s - The main building of Whitecross Hospital is demolished to make way for Warrington Hospital’s Croft wing
  • 1980 - The new Warrington District General Hospital opens on January 1, with Warrington Infirmary on Kendrick Street then closing on January 3. The last baby is born at Victoria Park Maternity Home, with the building later to become Park Manor home for the elderly and then the Spirit restaurant.Warrington Guardian:
  • 1987 - The number of resident patients at Winwick Hospital is reduced to around 1,000
  • 1988 - The £5.2m Burtonwood wing is opened at Warrington Hospital
  • 1992 - Graham Copeland, assistant medical director and general surgeon at Warrington Hospital, devised the possum equation to predict the likely outcome of a surgical procedure. This is now used by medical professionals around the world.
  • 1994 - Princess Anne officially opens the Croft wing at Warrington Hospital on June 10
  • 1995 - A new medical centre is opened on Guardian Street, at the back of the hospital, in April. In September, the hospital’s new opthalmic centre opens.
  • 1997 - Winwick Hospital is closed in March
  • 1998 - The £18m Hollins Park Hospital opens as a replacement for Winwick Hospital. The Daresbury wing is opened at Warrington Hospital.Warrington Guardian:
  • 2000s - Warrington Hospital receives a new main entrance and A&E unitWarrington Guardian:
  • 2001 - Warrington and Halton hospitals merge to form North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust
  • 2002 - A fire breaks out on Warrington Hospital’s A2 ward, with around 90 patients evacuated
  • 2006 - Warrington Hospital announces plans to cut 180 beds and 3,000 jobs in an effort to address an £8.5m deficit. In March, Pete Waterman opens a new £2.9m cardiac catheter suite at the hospital.Warrington Guardian:
  • 2008 - On December 1, North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust becomes Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • 2009 - A new £6.25m intensive care unit opens at Warrington Hospital
  • 2012 - The Bath Street Health and Wellbeing Centre opens on the former site of Warrington Baths in December

Warrington Guardian: Bath Street Health and Wellbeing Centre by Google Maps

WHEN the NHS was first formed on July 5 1948, Warrington was a very different place.

During the year, 1,527 births and 875 deaths were recorded in the town.

And the most common causes of death included heart disease and cancer, which were attributed to 23 per cent and 16 per cent of deaths respectively.

Warrington General Hospital was extended in 1948 to cope with the 5,000 admissions it received every year.

Meanwhile, Warrington Infirmary was the next busiest hospital in the town with more than 3,000 admissions per year.

Winwick Hospital employed 16 full-time medical staff and had 20 visiting consultants - as well as chiropodists, a social worker and a professional dancing master who was tasked with giving dance lessons.

Only four ambulances were in operation in Warrington in 1948 - an Austin 1932, an Austin 1934, a Ford V8 1934 and an Austin 1940.

Three of these were stationed at Warrington General Hospital, with the other based at the health department on Sankey Street in the town centre.

Other hospitals in operation in the town at time and in the 1950s included Newchurch Hospital in Culcheth, the 37-bed Thelwall Grange Hospital offering post-operative treatment and Whitecross Hospital - which treated the elderly and mental illnesses, and had 236 beds.

Meanwhile, Aiken Street Hospital had 110 beds and treated infectious diseases such as tuberculosis as well as the elderly, while Victoria Park Maternity Home had 23 beds.