One hundred years ago, the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Hospital was in serious financial debt, its future looking very uncertain. In this article, Scott Lomax shows how the valiant efforts of Chesterfield’s business community and the townsfolk at large helped save the hospital and in doing so enabled it to acquire the ‘Royal’ title by which we know it today.
CONCERNS over the future of the NHS have featured prominently in the news – and in the Brexit debate – this year. But however justified these concerns may be, what is certain is that a century ago the future of Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Hospital was about as bleak as it was possible to be. The institution was plunged into a debt that many feared could never be repaid, threatening the health of those living in the north of the county at a time of great need…