Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead

The hospital has its origins in the Sheriff Hill Isolation Hospital. The first building was completed in 1878 and others were added later. The 4 acre site was enclosed by a large stone wall tipped with barbed wire and broken glass, and by 1903 the hospital comprised a main block with an administrative building in the centre with a ward block on each side, another three-ward block, a porter's lodge, a steam disinfecting building, a laundry and a mortuary. The hospital had a maximum capacity of 78 patients, who were tended by two resident doctors and 10 nurses. During the period 1918 to 1939, the isolation hospital remained the sole medical provision in Sheriff Hill. Faced with an increase in…