A look back at Colchester hospitals through the years

However, there are many memories and history of medical services at times gone by.

Colchester has had its fair share of rich hospital history from smaller facilities to psychiatric and maternity hospitals and even hospitals which served for nearly two centuries.

If you look through most of the 20th century, there was a time when Colchester had multiple hospitals all open and serving the community before all services were brought together in Turner Road.

Historic - a shot of the Essex County Hospital in 1936, just a few years before the Second World War began (Image: N/A)

The oldest and longest-running was the Essex and Colchester Hospital, later renamed Essex County Hospital, which opened in 1820.

Following chronologically, one of the next core facilities to open was St Mary’s Hospital, which opened 17 years later in 1837.

Entrance - the main arrival point of the Victorian building (Image: N/A)

Formerly the Colchester Union Workhouse Infirmary, it was built a year after the Poor Law Act made such places statutory.

It later became St Mary’s Hospital, which was a public assistance institution.

Helping hand - a nurse with a patient at St Mary's Hospital (Image: N/A)

In 1913, Colchester’s Severalls Hospital opened.

Severalls was a psychiatric hospital built to house up to 2,000 patients as an asylum.

Working - Colchester's Severalls Hospital (Image: N/A)

Much of the site in Boxted Road is now derelict, with part turned into housing, with the original building which housed the psychiatric hospital preserved but falling into disrepair.

Colchester Maternity Hospital in Lexden Road followed next opening in 1932, caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth.

Care - nurses caring for the young at Colchester Maternity Hospital (Image: N/A)

However, closures began in the 1990s as services were transfered to the expanding Colchester Hospital.

St Mary’s Hospital closed in 1993 making way for the car park.

That was followed four years later by both Severalls Hospital and Colchester Maternity Hospital which closed in 1997, the site now occupied by houses.

Rest and recover - mothers taking a break in Colchester Maternity Hospital (Image: N/A)

Essex County Hospital closed in November 2018, 198 years after it first opened, with 120 homes set to take its place.

Group - a photo taken of staff, visitors and patients at Essex County Hospital in the 1900s (Image: N/A)

Most hospital services were transfered to Colchester Hospital although mental health patients are cared for at The Lakes nearby and there is also the walk-in centre next door.

Colchester Hospital was opened in May 1985 by the Queen, having just nine wards and 283 beds at the time.

Checks - nurse Tracy Newman treats Andy Ruston in Colchester General's emergency department in 1993 (Image: Newsquest)

Since then, the hospital has expanded to accommodate the growing population of Colchester.

Going through many thriving years, the hospital struggled during Covid, and is now consistently overwhelmed, with nurses even going on strike demanding pay rises to reflect their long hours and increasing pressures.