Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1892 the Bexley Urban District Council opened an isolation hospital in Long Lane, then in a largely rural area.

The Bexley Isolation Hospital was used mainly for the treatment and care of patients with scarlet fever or diphtheria, only opening when necessary.  It consisted of three builldings:  the Upper Hospital and the Pavilion, which were used for scarlet fever cases, and the Lower Hospital, used for diphtheria patients.

In 1894 the Hospital was only open for 75 days - from 14th April until 28th June - to receive ten smallpox patients (all of whom were later discharged well).  A single nurse looked after the patients, assisted part-time by a former patient.  During this year, the operational costs of the Hospital were £25 16s 9d (£25.84) for the maintenance of the patients (including their removal), £15 4s 0d (£15.20) for the nurses' wages, £7 13s 3d (£7.66) for disinfection of the bedding and £10 for incidental expenses.

In 1925 the average length of stay for scarlet fever patients was 44 days, and 21 days for those with diphtheria.  Despite the number of admissions for diphtheria being in excess of those in 1924, the  maintenance costs of the Hospital remained much the same - £893 in 1925 compared to £892 in 1924.

By the mid 1920s the buildings were deemed no longer suitable and the Hospital closed in 1928.


Present status (March 2015)

The site is now the northern part of Russell Park - an area of trees and grass north of the local bowls club and east of some tennis courts.  The Park is noted as being established in 1951, but this probably happened earlier than this in reality.