From royal visits to pioneering procedures, Pinderfields Hospital has become one of the region’s leading healthcare facilities since it opened 125 years ago.
The hospital, which treats tens of thousands of people per year, is a designated Major Trauma Unit, with specialized units for treating severe injuries and burns as well as complex medical conditions.
It has also become known for its pioneering clinical trials, treatments and research hubs.
Pinderfields was originally established as part of the Stanley Royd Hospital, and opened its doors on March 8, 1900.
The building was used as a military hospital during World War One, and catered to hundreds of wounded soldiers.
After the war, the hospital transitioned into a civilian healthcare facility, with its services beginning to expand.
It was during this period that the hospital was renamed the Wakefield Emergency Hospital.
In the 1940s, it was officially renamed Pinderfields General Hospital – which was derived from the Pinder of Wakefield.
These were the townsmen in charge of impounding stray animals who were tasked with ensuring that no-one dare trespass on Wakefield under their watchful eyes.
During World War Two, the hospital developed one of the country’s largest, and most important, Rehabilitation Units.
As a principal pioneering unit, it helped those wounded in the war whilst developing new methods of rehabilitation.
Over the next two decades, the hospital continued to care for patients from across the region.
In 1966, The Regional Burns Service was established at Pinderfields Hospital as the first NHS-funded purpose-built facility in Britain for the treatment of major burns.
The Burns Unit remains a key part of the hospital to date.
In the 1980s, Pinderfields Hospital was extended to create a new district general hospital, with the aim to provide more modern medicine to those in need.
This was primarily due to a major Salmonella outbreak in 1984 at Stanley Royd Hospital – which affected 240 patients and left 19 dead.
The outbreak highlighted the inadequacies of Victorian hospital buildings in modern healthcare, with Stanley Royd shutting down in 1995 – which left Pinderfields as Wakefield’s only hospital.
Tragedy hit the hospital in 1990, when cosmetic surgeons Kenneth Paton and Michael Masser were killed during an attack within the building.
The two doctors were recognised as being "leaders” in their fields.
Mr Paton treated victims of the Bradford City fire disaster in 1985 and helped a Wakefield woman born without ears to hear for the first time by carrying out reconstructive surgery on the bone structure of her face.
An obituary, published in the British Medical Journal in February 1991, described Mr Masser as "an excellent surgeon who gave much thought to and read widely on his subject".
In 1991, the Paton-Masser Memorial Fund was founded in memory of the murdered surgeons, with the aim of awarding 5,000 a year towards British research projects in plastic surgery.
A memorial stone was also placed within the hospital grounds.
In 1997, Pinderfields General Hospital merged with Pontefract General Hospital to form a single hospital trust.
Five years later, in 2002, the Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals NHS Trust merged with Dewsbury Healthcare Trust to form the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust – which continues to cover the three hospitals to date.
Almost ten years later and there was another major milestone for the hospital, with the opening of its new, state-of-the-art facility in 2011.
The brand new hospital, known simply as Pinderfields Hospital, was announced to replace the old Pinderfields General Hospital building in 2007.
Pinderfields Hospital, which was designed by the Building Design Partnership, cost around £150 million and was officially opened in September 2011 by the Princess Royal, Anne.
Since then, the new hospital building has become a leading healthcare facility – becoming a Major Trauma Unit with a helicopter landing site close to its Emergency Department.
The Regional Adult’s Burns Centre and Regional Children’s Burns Unit, has continued to evolve and now serves a population of approximately 3.5 million people across Yorkshire.
It is serviced by 19 emergency departments and manages over 150 patients every year, often with major and life-threatening burns, as well as 1,800 outpatients.
The hospital is also home to the Yorkshire Regional Spinal Injuries Centre (YRSIC), one of 12 specialist spinal injury centres in the United Kingdom.
The 32 bed unit admits approximately 120 newly injured patients each year.
As the hospital celebrates its 125th anniversary, on March 8, 2025 a special first-of-its-kind event will take place the day before, on Friday, March 7.
‘Hands Across Wakefield’ aims to bring together 2,000 community members in a human chain stretching from Pinderfields Hospital to Wakefield Cathedral, to symbolise “unity, compassion, and support for healthcare in the community”.
The event is the first of its kind in the UK, setting a historic milestone in Wakefield, with all funds raised being donated to the hospital and those who benefit from its services.
Keith Ramsay, Chair of Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust said: "We’re thrilled to launch Hands Across Wakefield as a powerful symbol of togetherness in Wakefield. Our community, businesses, and schools are rallying behind this event, and we’re already feeling the buzz across the city.
“It’s an opportunity to not only commemorate the incredible legacy of Pinderfields Hospital but also to unite for a meaningful cause.”
1. P.C. Lee Rowley
P.C. Lee Rowley outside Pinderfields on September 11, 1991. Photo: National World Archive
2. 1985
Mr Birchall visits the Burns unit at Pinderfields in 1985. Photo: National World Archive
3. New eye laser clinic
The opening of a new eye laser clinic at Pinderfields in March, 1985. Photo: National World Archive
4. Pinderfields Burns Unit
Dr Settle at the Pinderfields Burns Unit in 1983. Photo: National World Archive