Northfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, later Northfield Wards of the Royal Adelaide Hospital (GA1279)

The Northfield Infectious Diseases Hospital was opened in 1932. Prior to this, patients requiring hospitalisation for treatment for infectious diseases were admitted to the Infectious Diseases Block at the Adelaide Hospital, also known as the Isolation Block, housed in the former Adelaide Asylum building. The building was deficient for the purpose, and the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1919 led to calls for a new hospital to be built. (1)

Legislation that provided for the establishment of a new hospital to be called the 'Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital' was passed in 1922. (2) However, the urgency for a new hospital had dissipated and it was not until 1928 that the Act was proclaimed and arrangements to build the hospital commenced. (3)

The contracts for building the hospital, on a site at Northfield known as 'Conrad's land', were let by the South Australian government, (4) but the hospital was to be a municipal hospital with the land, buildings and equipment managed by a Board comprising the Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide and representatives of Local Boards of Health and the South Australian branch of the Australian Medical Association. (5)

In October 1932, the Northfield Infectious Diseases Hospital's first patients were transferred from the Adelaide Hospital's Isolation Block. (6) New patients were referred only by medical officers of the Local Board of Health, which caused some confusion as it differed from the previous practices of the Adelaide Hospital. (7)

By the 1940s, immunisation and the introduction of new drugs such as penicillin had resulted in fewer patients. The hospital was under-used and a transfer of management to the state government was proposed. (8) On 1 April 1948, the management of the hospital was transferred to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and it was re-named the Northfield Wards of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. (9) While the poliomyelitis epidemic of the late 1940s and early 1950s saw an influx in patients, the hospital also began to admit patients who did not have infectious diseases, including orthopaedic and chronic geriatric patients and patients requiring rehabilitation. (10)

The hospital was redeveloped during the 1970s, with some patients accommodated at the adjacent Morris Hospital during this time. (11) In 1981, the Northfield Wards amalgamated with the Morris Hospital to form the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre. (12)

See GA2416 for the Morris Hospital, previously the Northfield Consumptive Home.


Sources:

(1) Byrne, Dr A D, Recollections and impressions concerning the Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital - Northfield, p. 36.
(2) Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital Act, 1922.
(3) Byrne, Dr A D, Recollections and impressions concerning the Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital - Northfield, p. 37.
(4) The Advertiser, 14 September 1929, p. 12.
(5) Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital Act, 1922.
(6) GRS 8850/1/P
(7) Byrne, Dr A D, Recollections and impressions concerning the Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital - Northfield, p. 39.
(8) Forbes, Ian L D, To Succour and to Teach, pp. 105-106.
(9) Infectious Diseases Hospital Transfer Act, 1947.
(10) Forbes, Ian L D, To Succour and to Teach, pp. 107-123.
(11) Forbes, Ian L D, To Succour and to Teach, pp. 122-123.
(12) Forbes, Ian L D, To Succour and to Teach, p. 102.