Medway Maritime Hospital is a general hospital in Gillingham, England within the NHS South East Coast. It is run by Medway NHS Foundation Trust. It is Kent's largest and busiest hospital, dealing with around 400,000 patients annually. It was founded in the early 1900s as a Royal Naval Hospital for naval personnel at Chatham Dockyard and the nearby Royal Naval Barracks.
Medway Maritime Hospital
Medway Maritime Hospital: looking towards the main entrance
RNH Chatham: the Administrative Block and Clock Tower. (The dome above the entrance allowed daylight into the main laboratory below.)
Pavilion ward blocks at Chatham. At the end of each block was a verandah, flanked by 'sanitary towers' containing sluice rooms and lavatories.
A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were part of the Royal Naval Medical Service. The British Army equivalent was a Military Hospital, and in the 20th century a number of RAF Hospitals were also established.
The earliest surviving Royal Naval Hospital complex is on Illa del Rei, Port Mahon, Menorca (established 1711, rebuilt 1771–6, restored 2011)
Illa Del Rei, Port Mahon, Menorca: the main range when built had ten separate wards, linked by a verandah.
18th-century engraving of the Royal Naval Hospital at Plymouth.
Naval hospital, Madras: coloured aquatint by James Baily, 1811.
