Timeline of the new Royal Alex (From The Argus)

Timeline of the new Royal Alex

5:59pm Wednesday 27th June 2007 in News By Siobhan Ryan

From private house to 21st century hospital with sea views - 139 years later.

1868: Brighton Hospital for Sick Children opens in a private house in Western Road, Brighton.

1870: An adjoining house is taken over to meet increasing demand.

1871: School House in Dyke Road is adapted and opens as a new home for the hospital.

1881: A new building called the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children is officially opened.

1894: A laundry is added.

1896: A 12-bed nurses' home is built.

1904: An outpatient department with an isolation ward above is built.

1906: An electric lift is installed and balconies are added to the three wards.

1913: The X-ray department is added.

1927: A new wing provides an ultraviolet light department and an operating suite is built.

1942: The open-air wards are enclosed.

1945: Additions are made to the three main wards and the Gillespie extension opens.

1947: Beves ward opens for children with gastroenteritis.

1949: A new outpatient department opens and the old department becomes Elizabeth Ward.

1950: A combined preliminary training school is established with the town's general hospitals.

1954: Princess Alexandra consents to becoming the hospital's patron.

1959: Nicholson Ward is converted into a cubicled unit with accommodation for resident mothers.

1960: The orthodontic department is established in the old laundry building.

1966: Cawthorne Ward opens on the ground floor of the old nurses' home.

1968: The Centenary Appeal Fund is launched, later to become the Rockinghorse Appeal.

1970: The special care baby unit opens on level 14 of the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

1978: A new pharmacy is established.

1988: The official opening of the MacKeith child development centre at the Royal Alex.

1995: The day case surgery unit opens.

1999: A Ronald McDonald House where parents can stay overnight is opened.

2006: Rockinghorse Appeal renamed Rockinghorse and the New Alex Fund isreached.

2007: The new Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital is opened.