Origins The hospital has its origins in the
Belfast Union Workhouse and infirmary on the
Lisburn Road which was designed by
Charles Lanyon and opened on 1 January 1841. The infirmary was intended for the poor who did not have access to healthcare services provided by the government.
Dr. Thomas Andrews Dr. Thomas Andrews, who qualified as a doctor in Edinburgh in 1835, was appointed by the Guardians at the age of 26 to work with the growing patient population and paid him £60 per annum. The
National Health Service was created in 1948, and three of the hospital's laboratory assistants were among the last 45 of the workhouse residents to serve on the hospital staff. Having been orphaned and with no record of their parents, they were known as Pauper John, Skipper and Red Hand Rufus. The tree, which remains surrounded by modern developments and is described as "an oasis of calm and a symbol of hope for patients, staff and students", was named
Northern Ireland's Tree of the Year for 2017 in a public vote. The tower block, which is 15 storeys and 76 m (250 ft) high, was designed by Louis Adair Roche and opened in January 1986. Maternity services transferred to the
Royal Maternity Hospital and the Jubilee Maternity Hospital, which had been based on the Belfast City Hospital site, closed in May 2000. In February 2003 the hospital was designated as one of the nine acute hospitals in the acute hospital network of Northern Ireland on which healthcare would be focused under the government health policy 'Developing Better Services'. An oncology centre, with four wards and a total of 72 beds, opened in March 2006. The Accident and Emergency Department closed in 2011 due to financial and recruitment difficulties: the trust directed patients and ambulances to go to either the
Royal Victoria Hospital or The
Mater Infirmorum Hospital for emergency treatment instead. == Teaching ==