Then and now: How Sheffield Children's Hospital has changed over the years

Sheffield Children’s hospital is in the news as excitement has built for the Bears of Sheffield sculpture trail, raising money for The Children's Hospital Charity’s appeal for a new cancer and leukemia ward.
A huge Mickey Mouse on the wall of Sheffield Children's Hospital in August 1976, celebrating a successful appeal for a play centre and accommodation for families of sick childrenA huge Mickey Mouse on the wall of Sheffield Children's Hospital in August 1976, celebrating a successful appeal for a play centre and accommodation for families of sick children
A huge Mickey Mouse on the wall of Sheffield Children's Hospital in August 1976, celebrating a successful appeal for a play centre and accommodation for families of sick children

These then and now pictures show different stages of the building, rather than the changing view from the same spot. The smart new entrance stands on Clarkson Street, around the corner from where the original building still stands on Western Bank, with the more modern emergency department next door.

Sheffield Free Hospital for Sick Children opened in 1876 in a rented property, Brightmore House on Brook Hill. It was the brainchild of a city doctor, William Jackson Cleaver, architect John Dodsley Webster and solicitor Henry Vickers.

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The hospital soon outgrew Brightmore House and in 1880 moved to Western Bank, changing its name to the Children's Hospital.

In 2020/21, the hospital treated 195,152 outpatients, mainly via remote appointments during the pandemic, and admitted 13,274 in-patients.