In celebration of Wigan’s Royal Albert Edward Infirmary’s (RAEI) 150th Birthday, Ms Lisa Nandy MP unveiled a special mural at the Wrightington Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust today.
The event was the first of many being celebrated across the Trust as part of its ‘Big Birthday Month’, not only recognising the RAEI site turning 150 years old but Wrightington Hospital celebrating its 90th Birthday, WWL Radio turning 50 years young and, of course, the great institution that is the NHS, commemorating 75 years at the beginning of July.
The mural, commissioned by Councillor George Davies, a former WWL porter, charts the sites’ history over the past 150 years marking key milestones and has been installed along the link corridor at Entrance 2.
Ms Nandy, thanking those in attendance at the celebration said: “It is a real pleasure to join George and some of our wonderful NHS staff for this celebration, and to have the privilege of unveiling this special mural to commemorate a landmark year for Royal Albert Edward Infirmary and the NHS in our town.
“The last few difficult years have been another reminder of how much we owe the amazing staff who work in our health service and look after us and our families in times of need.”
On why he commissioned the piece, Cllr Davies remarked: “This mural is dedicated to our colleagues who have worked or contributed to the ongoing development of the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary.
“It is a great honour to say a big thank you to everyone who have put in a great service throughout its 150 years.”
Also present at the occasion, WWL Chair Mark Jones paid tribute to the organisation’s staff and volunteers saying; “The Royal Albert Edward Infirmary was and still is a critical site for the people of Wigan and I would like to thank all of our staff and volunteers past and present who have made it the great place it is today.
“WWL is a unique and special place and our staff are the beating heart of our organisation and I would like to thank them all for all that they do every day for our patients.”
Between 1798 and 1824, just 580 patients were admitted per year to the old Wigan Dispensary which would go on to become the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary When HRH Prince Albert Edward of Wales officially opened the building with his wife Princess Alexander in 1873.
At that time there were around 150 beds but by the time the hospital became part of the NHS in 1948 this increased to 228 treating over 5,000 in-patients per year.
Today, in 2023, there are over 500 beds on the site, treating over 75,000 in-patients and seeing over 110,000 patients per year in the Trust’s Emergency Department in addition to almost 50,000 patients at Urgent Treatment Centres.
Just 83 births were recorded at Wigan Infirmary in 1948 and 965 at Billinge Hospital, but today, WWL’s fantastic maternity service sees approximately 3,000 births per year.
In the Radiology department in 1948 19,333 Xray examinations were performed at Wigan. While in 2023, in addition to normal X-Rays, the Trust’s state-of-the-art Radiology department performs an incredible 54,000 CT scans and around 23,000 MRI scans per year.