Visit Date August 2006
Law Hospital
Architect ? But if there was one I would be surprised Kids with Lego could do better!
Opened 1939
Closed 2001
Other Used as a Police Training centre for the G8 Summit
Law hospital was first opened in 1939 as an Emergency Medical Service in 1939, the location was chosen in quite a remote area away from the nearest town so if it was bombed the civilian casulaties would be minimal. Unfortunately for the hospital it was on the bombers list as the structure of the hospital made it look like a barracks!
The hospital consists of mostly prefab buildings which are joined with connecting corridors giving the hospital a very temporary feel, when it was built the structure was only meant to be temporary with a life span of 10 - 15 years but it carried on for 62 years!!!
It was always recognised by the local authority that Law Hospital was not a good example of a modern hospital, often appearing in the news. The NHS trust finally shut Law and a nearby maternity unit in 2001 and services were transferred to a
brand new and much needed hospital.
Our visit in August was unfortunately quite a short one as we did not realise that work had already started to strip the hospital, probably to get it ready for demolition. We did manage to find a room full of patient handbooks with maps which was most helpful for navigation.
The Intensive Care unit was probably one of the worst ones I have seen, it really did have the apearence of a hut. We made our way through the building on the way fining plans for the new hospital and eventually entered A&E which still had writing on the boards and a children's treatment area..... with a very bored looking mermaid. Exiting the emergency Dept we were on our way to another part of the complex when we end up with a rather large Alsatian at our heels ...................... Needless to say time to leave!

