Hospitals

Which establishments provided treatments for illnesses?

Monasteries, wise women, apothecaries, physicians

Who were physicians?

Private doctors who had trained at university, studying books written by Hippocrates and Galen (they were very expensive, so usually only employed by the very rich)

What did monasteries do?

Provided care for the local area or travellers - treatment was based on prayers or herbal remedies, and occasionally patients were turned away if they were too sick or contagious, but they mostly accepted anyone

What did apothecaries do?

They provided herbal remedies, often using ideas which had been passed down through generations

What hospitals were available in the Medieval Era?

Monasteries acted as hospitals

What happened to monasteries during Henry VIII’s rule?

He dissolved (shut down) most of Britain’s monasteries, thus removing most of the free care available in Britain at the time

When were privately funded hospitals set up?

From the early 18th century

How were most hospitals funded?

By rich donors since the government adopted a ‘lessaiz faire’ attitude to public health at the time

Who were allowed to attend hospitals?

Patients that were likely to recover quickly due to the lack of space and threat the infections would spread quickly. The deserving poor were likely to be able to enter, while the lazy, impotent poor would be disallowed. Some hospitals also specialised in treating certain illnesses or providing a place for mothers to give birth