Above, there are multiple photographs of the many different hospitals that existed during the Victorian Era. These hospitals consisted of the voluntary hospital, specialist hospitals, the poor law infirmary, the hospitals for diseased patients only, and the insane asylums. Each of these hospitals represent a different type of medical need and serve that purpose only. The voluntary hospital represented a place for those to be admitted that didn't have enough money to pay for a regular hospital. This hospital would deny service to those who had money to pay or even those that should be placed in asylums or were highly infectious with a disease. Doctors who worked in the voluntary hospital were those whom volunteered, as they received all of there money from there private practices (15, Victorian Hospitals). The specialist hospital were for those patients that had a specific type of condition that the doctor wanted to treat. Unlike the voluntary hospitals, the specialist hospital didn't allow just anyone to be a patient. The patients at this hospital must be admitted by the doctors working at the facility (15, Victorian Hospitals). The doctors normally based entry off of the conditions of the patients and how bad they wanted to treat that particular condition. This also enabled doctors to further their research on a particular condition in order to further enhance the medical field in there time period. The poor law infirmary were hospitals within the workhouses for the workers within that particular workhouse. These hospitals were established in 1845 following the law set forth in Scotland stating that all workhouses must consist of place for medical care (15, Victorian Hospitals). Doctors working in these hospitals were payed for there time, sometimes higher then what most make because of the demand for doctors in these workhouses. Because of the conditions in these workhouse, some doctors didn't think the trials and tribulations were worth it, causing the demand to increase. These hospitals were overall possibly the worst medial practices who'd witness in the Victorian Era. The hospitals for diseased patients only were designed specifically for this time period because of the spread of many infectious diseases. These hospitals were placed in affect to isolate those with a particular infectious disease and to try and eliminate the spreading of it. Last but not least were the insane asylums. These hospitals were put in place to treat those who were mentally ill. Those who were treated here were very unstable and needed to be watched and cared for at all times. These types of patients were not uncommon in this time period. Overall, these many different medical facilities helped enable the lives of many patients and allowed a better life for many.
M | Hospitals in the Victorian Era |