Saint Ultan’s Hospital Papers

Context

Creator(s): Saint Ultan's Hospital for Infants, Dublin

• Administrative History ↴

  The establishment of Saint Ultan's Hospital was the result of the activity of a group of female doctors and activists, who were deeply concerned at the high level of infant mortality in Dublin, and the rise of infant syphilis in the wake of the First World War. A central figure in the establishment of the hospital was Dr Kathleen Lynn. A committee, Cóiste Cosanta na hÉireann, was founded in May 1918 to establish the hospital, and the members worked hard to raise funds and find a suitable site. The hospital opened at 37 Charlemont Street on Ascension Thursday, 29 May 1919. The name of the hospital came from the seventh century Saint Ultan of Ardbraccan, bishop of Meath, who had looked after the children of Meath during an outbreak of yellow plague. The organisational structure of the hospital was provided for in its constitution. The main governing institution was the hospital board, which had absolute control of the management of the hospital. Under the board the constitution provided for four committees; medical, nursing, lay (renamed house) and finance, which could be established as the needs of the hospital grew. It is also clear that there was an amusements committee which was responsible for raising much needed funds for the hospital, unfortunately no records of this committee have survived. As the hospital grew and circumstances changed two additional committees where established; the Saint Ultan's Hospital Utility Society (1933) and the Kathleen Lynn Memorial Committee (1956). Saint Ultan's was at the fore front of the fight against Tuberculosis in Ireland. Dr Dorothy Price had pioneered the introduction of the BCG vaccine to Ireland, and proved its effectiveness at Saint Ultan's. In 1949 Saint Ultan's opened a dedicated BCG Centre, and when the National BCG Committee was established by Noel Brown, Minister for Health, in the same year it was based at Saint Ultan's with Dr Price as its chair. Saint Ultan's continued to grow with the opening of the Dr Kathleen Lynn Surgical Ward in 1965, the result of the Memorial Committee's fundraising. However, by the 1980s plans for the restructuring of hospital provision in Dublin were threatening Saint Ultan's, and the hospital was closed in 1984. A fund was established to deal with the assets of the former hospital, with the money going to other Irish hospitals and the hospital's administrative papers to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

• Archival History ↴

  The Saint Ultan's Hospital Papers were deposited with the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland for safe keeping after the closure of the hospital in 1984, the medical records of the hospital were retained by the HSE.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Donation