A major restructuring of local health services heralded the end of a long-established hospital in Hull.
Kingston General, in Beverley Road, closed its doors at the end of 2000 and was later demolished to make way for Endeavour High School, which is also no more. The hospital was originally the Sculcoates Union Workhouse, built between 1843 and 1845 by Henry F Lockwood and William Mawson, and could house 500 inmates after it opened in 1846.
In later years, it became known as the Beverley Road Institution, and, after 1948, was renamed the Kingston General Hospital. The closure of Kingston General, along with the soon-to-follow Hedon Road maternity hospital, was part of a deliberate strategy to concentrate resources on Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.
Kingston General had seen the transfer of a number of services to more up to date facilities over the previous 15 years. The number of beds on the site had fallen from 400 in 1986 to 123 in early 2000.
It had been the home of Humberside Breast Screening Service, a plastic surgery unit and a number of elderly care wards. In February 1998, East Riding Health Authority undertook a public consultation exercise on the closure of the hospital.
In December 2000, past and then current from Kingston General were invited to a reception to mark its closure. At the time, Chris Appleby, then chief executive of the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Many people will have a lot of fond memories of the hospital.
“We wanted to offer those people for whom Kingston General has been part of their working lives the chance to say farewell properly. Although the event will be a trip down memory lane for many people who attend, it will also mark the start of an exciting new era.”
See below for a number of nostalgic images, pulled from the Hull Daily Mail archive.
READ MORE: Nostalgic photos of pupils at Kelvin Hall School in late 1990s and early 2000s