Forster Green Hospital

Forster Green

Forster Green was born on 8 October 1815 in Annahilt in County Down. Green was educated in Friends' School, Lisburn. Alongside his brothers he took up an apprenticeship in his teens which involved him moving to Liverpool. Upon his return to Ireland, he moved to Belfast and set up a business trading tea and coffee to both the commercial and consumer markets.^[4]

By the age of 24, Green had amassed a successful business, Forster Green and Company: Tea and Coffee merchants. Green's business operated from multiple premises around Belfast City Centre, including in High Street, Royal Avenue and Cornmarket.

Green and his family resided in Derryvolgie house, a large house just off the Malone Road in South Belfast. In 1840, Green married Mary Boalde from Whitehaven. Together they had six children, five daughters and one son. Four of their daughters perished of consumption before reaching adulthood, their only surviving daughter Mary later married and had four children. The Green's son died of lung disease due to consumption in his mid-twenties whilst in Egypt trying to seek warmer climates more favourable to his condition. Mary Green died in 1880 and two years later Forster Green married his second wife Jane Holding.

The experiences with respiratory illness profoundly shaped Forster Green's later philanthropic work. Green was an active member in the society of friends, this strong Christian faith along with his personal experiences with diseases such as tuberculosis lead him and his wife to donate £2,000 to Throne Hopsital, Belfast- this was a hospital located in North Belfast, that at the time was a children's hospital- it closed in 1992.^[5] This donation was used to open a specialist unit in the hospital for the treatment of consumption.^[6] Green purchased Fortbreda House and the surrounding grounds for a total sum of £11,000 in 1895 with the plan to build a hospital specifically for the treatment of consumption and chest complaints. Green was aware of the challenges posed by the setting up and running of a hospital as he was a life governor of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. At the time one of the only treatments for tuberculosis was access to fresh air,^[7] this was one of the reasons why the Fortbreda site, with it's location at the time being outside the city in relative countryside, was a perfect location for a consumption unit. Over the subsequent two years the site was developed and on 30 September 1897 Forster Green Hospital for Consumption and Chest Diseases opened.^[4]

Upon the opening of the hospital Green was actively involved in it's running through his role as President. Forster Green remained involved in the organisation of the hospital into his later years, he passed away in Belfast in 1903, at the age of 88. Green was survived by his wife Jane who died in 1920.

Hospital early years

After the opening of the hospital in 1897 the main purpose of the hospital was to function as a sanatorium. This meant that most of the patients in the hospital were long term patients who had tuberculosis (TB) or related respiratory illnesses. Before the discovery of antibiotics the main methods used to treat TB were; exposure to fresh air, rest and surgery to remove infected parts of the lung- this was seen as a last effort to control the disease.^[7][8] The large amount of open space on the Forster Green site, and the fact it was located outside of the city centre meant that it was the ideal location for the desired non-interventional treatment options.^[4]

Over the next 20 years, the hospital steadily grew in size and in 1925 the first x-ray machine was acquired for the hospital- this was used for the diagnosis of thoracic disease and also to help guide treatment. In 1933 the hospital opened a new wing, this increased bed numbers but more notable was that he new wing had operating theatres, this allowed surgical treatment of chest diseases to occur on site. In 1945 the x-ray machinery was upgraded, this boosted the hospitals diagnostic repertoire. Upon the nationwide introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, the hospital name was officially changed to Forster Green Hospital. A new thoracic surgery unit was approved for development in 1953 and was finished and operational in 1955, this increased number of surgeries than could be performed in the hospital. Three years later in 1958 a newly built administration unit was opened, this helped better organise the daily workings of the hospital- this building was acquired by the Belfast Trust Dietetics Service in 2008. Also in 1958 laboratory services were added to the site along with a mortuary, the mortuary was taken over by the Belfast Trust in 1973 and became the Belfast City Mortuary, this was relocated to the Royal Victoria Hospital in the 2008 to a new forensic mortuary building costing £4.5 million.^[4][9]

A change of direction in the hospital's history occurred in 1983 with the closure of the respiratory medicine wards with these wards being moved to the recently opened Belfast City Hospital tower block along with the radiology department. The thoracic surgery unit was also closed this year and relocated to the Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1987, upon the closure of wards specific to the care of older people in Musgrave Park Hospital and Belvoir Park Hospital, a new ward for care of older people was permanently opened in the hospital. This new ward also meant that more members of other allied health professions were based in Forster Green, these included; occupational therapists, physiotherapist and art therapists.

In 1997 a specialist rehabilitation unit was opened in the hospital, this unit dealt exclusively with patients with serious brain injuries. This unit was moved to a newly build specialist centre in 2006 - the Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit which is located in Musgrave Park Hospital.^[4][10]

Current services

The hospital today is significantly smaller than it was in the past. The hospital has two wards for neurology patients- wards 3 and 4. Wards 5 and 6 are used for care of older patients and ward 7 is the child and family centre.^[11]

Beachcroft

Also located within the Forster Green Hospital site is Beachcroft- the regional child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit, the only unit of it's type in Northern Ireland. This unit opened in early 2010 and was build at a cost of £9 million. It deals with patients with complex needs and offers a range of assessment and treatment options that cannot be done within the community.^[12][13]

Knockbreda Healthcare and Wellbeing Centre

Wellbeing centres are an initiative by the Belfast Trust where treatment, care and information services related to people's health and social care are managed from one site. This centralises care and makes it more accessible to people within the community.

A wide range of services are offered on the Wellbeing centre site such as:

• Dental clinics
• Dietician services
• Out of hours General Practitioner- this is the base for the South and East Belfast out of hours GP service.
• Occupational therapy
• Pain clinics
• Physiotherapy
• Podiatry
• Sexual health and reproduction clinics
• Speech and language therapy
• COPD clinics
• Diabetic clinics
• Palliative care service^[14]