# Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle (Microbiology and Pathology) - July 2010



## JEP27 (Jul 6, 2010)

The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle was first built in 1830/32 and is now a grade II listed building ( http://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-386816-cumberland-infirmary-carlisle ). The hospital was added to in the 20th century and it is one of these buildings that contained the microbiology/pathology departments. In November 1997 the government gave the go ahead for a new hospital to be built in the grounds of the Infirmary. It cost £87 million, has 444 beds, took 29 months to construct and was officially opened by the Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair. It was the first major acute hospital PFI (Private Finance Initiative) scheme to be completed nationally and the first in-patients were admitted on 10 April 2000.

"The services on the old hospital site were spread out over a number of worn-out, out of date buildings. This scheme has centralised a number of existing services and provides new and up-to-date day surgery and rehabilitation to meet the needs of patients in the area now and for a great many years to come.... The new hospital has enabled the centralisation of acute and maternity services on to one site and provides a dedicated day surgery unit and an integrated rehabilitation unit into a brand-new, modern hospital." (Department of Health)

As various departments moved into the new part of the hospital, so their original buildings became vacant. They have sat empty since then until approx. a month ago when demo started. The microbiology/pathology building is in the process of being demolished. The front part of the building had already been demolished and the roof was pretty much gone when we went in. I didn't think we'd find much, but was quite pleasantly surprised when we got in (there was even a contingency plan for resetting pcs after the turn of the millenium) Anyway, some pics..













































































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Thanks for looking


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## Potter (Jul 7, 2010)

It's amazing what they leave behind really.


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