LETTER: Memories of eye infirmary
The excellent article on the demise of the former eye infirmary will have triggered many happy memories of former patients and staff.
From its early origins in 1881 in St Mark’s Road with 10 beds to its grand opening in 1888 in Compton Road, it provided all the innovative and progressive and necessary eye care of the day from the early treatments of glaucoma through to a leading eye centre for corneal grafts in UK. The training of both medical and supernumerary staff, many from overseas and local industry, added to its prestige. With the transfer to the New Cross site in 2007/8, its excellent research in macular disease continued and its training of its staff continued in first class fashion.
With plans and progress now well advanced in Chapel Ash, it would be an excellent chance for a blue plaque like the plans made for the former Royal Hospital in September.
Wolverhampton has a very rich history of medical care, from early ether use at the public dispensary to insulin use at the Royal Hospital in 1926, let it not be forgotten.
