Timeline of Key Developments in Local Medical History

1765 Irish Parliament passes an Act enabling the Grand Juries to establish County Infirmaries. County Infirmaries established at Downpatrick and Armagh.

1788 Dr Samuel Black sets up a practice in Newry. His highly influential work linked angina to ‘ossification’ of the coronary arteries.

1817 Small fever hospital and dispensary established in Kilmorey Street in Newry.

1826 Connor’s Chemist established on Hill Street in Newry by Dr Patrick Connor.

1832 Epidemic of Asiatic Cholera in Newry; 271 people infected, 127 died.

1835 Buildings rented on Pound Road for use as a hospital and dispensary.

1838 The Irish Poor Law established workhouses and other mechanisms for helping the poor.

1839 Newry Fever Hospital (later renamed Newry General Hospital) opens on the Rathfriland Road.

1841 Workhouses opened in Newry and Kilkeel. Infirmaries and Fever Hospitals are built on the sites.

1845 – 1849

Epidemics of typhus and fever in Newry during the Great Famine.

1856 Workhouse hospitals allowed to provide treatment for the nondestitute poor who were not inmates.

1871 Newry Improvement and Water Act receives Royal Assent.

1895 Smallpox outbreak in Newry.

1900 A serious fire destroyed the main building of Newry Workhouse.

1901 Sisters of Mercy invited to work in the Newry Workhouse Infirmary. This practice had already been introduced in many workhouses in Ireland.

1902 Newry Workhouse re-opened with improved facilities.

1904 Sisters of Mercy resign, and their nursing role taken on by the Sisters of St John of God.

1914 – 1918

First World War prompts local doctors and nurses to provide medical services to the Armed Forces, both at home and abroad.

1918 Spanish flu outbreak.

1927 The Fever Hospital in Kilkeel expanded to become Mourne District Hospital.

1930 Newry Workhouse becomes Daisy Hill Hospital.

1936 New medical block at Daisy Hill Hospital constructed with electric light.

1939 – 1945

Second World War.

1947 Streptomycin, first antibiotic effective in treating tuberculosis, discovered in 1943, introduced locally.

1948 National Health Service (NHS) established. Board of Guardians close Newry Workhouse and dispensaries are replaced by GP services.

1963 The running costs for Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry General Hospital and the Mourne Hospital Kilkeel were £279,368, an increase of £49,000 on the previous year, the main reason for the rise was salaries.

1964 A Nurse Training School is established at Daisy Hill Hospital.

1966 Post Graduate General Practitioner Training Scheme introduced in Northern Ireland. Myles Shortall from Newry is the first and only trainee of that year.

Late 1960s Building of a new Maternity Unit and Casualty Department at Daisy Hill.

1967 The hospital of the Sisters of St John of God opened at Courtenay Hill.

1970s Daisy Hill Hospital at the forefront of the Troubles.

1981 New tower block development at Daisy Hill opened by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Mr John Patton MP.

1981 Last patients in Newry General Hospital transferred to Daisy Hill Hospital.

1989 Newry and Mourne Hospice (later Southern Area Hospice) is established by the Sisters of St John of God and the Southern Area Health Board at Courtenay Hill.

1991 Psychiatric Day Hospital opened by Dr Gerald Plunkett at Daisy Hill.

1996 Mourne District Hospital closes.

2000 Last Sister of St John of God working in Daisy Hill Hospital retires.

2003 Daisy Hill Hospital designated as one of nine acute hospitals in an acute hospital network for Northern Ireland.

2005 An allocation of £2.9 billion for modernisation and development of facilities at Daisy Hill was included in the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland.

2009 The Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 led to a reorganisation of health and social care delivery, reducing the number of organisations involved. This Act established the Health and Social Care Board and five Health and Social Care Trusts which are responsible for the delivery of primary, secondary and community health care.

2011 Daisy Hill Hospital becomes a Queen’s University Belfast Teaching Hospital.

2020 COVID-19 Pandemic begins.