Somerset Hospital

The Somerset Hospital in the Green Point area of Cape Town, South Africa opened in 1864 and has been declared a provincial heritage site.The hospital replaced one of the same name in Chiapinni Street, which had been founded by Dr Samuel Bailey in 1818 as the first civilian hospital in Cape Town. It was named after Lord Charles Somerset the governor of the Cape Colony who gave land for the construction. The Chavonnes Battery was used as an isolation and convalescent wing.The cornerstone for the new hospital was laid on 18 August 1859 by the Cape Governor Sir George Grey. In addition to the appointment of medical staff, nurses were recruited from the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, St Thomas' Hospital in London including Sister Helen Bowden, who in 1877 became the first fully qualified nurse to be appointed as Matron of Somerset Hospital. Subsequently the hospital established its own nurse training school, becoming the first hospital to train non-white nurses.From 1918 until 1937, when the Groote Schuur Hospital opened it was the main academic hospital of the University of Cape Town. A new West Wing opened in 1973 for white patients. The old building was renamed the north wing, not because of their position but the N meant for non-white patients and the W of West Wing signified that it was for Whites. The high incidence of HIV infections amongst the patients led to the establishment of the hospital as a prime referral centre for the treatment of AIDS and the first antiretroviral distribution centre was established there in 2005.