As we celebrate 75 years of the NHS, the Echo looks back at how Southampton General Hospital came to be and the effect the organisation had on it. The history of the hospital can be traced back to the early 1900s, when the Southampton Union Infirmary was founded in Shirley Warren.

This hospital was built to replace the workhouse infirmary in St Mary's and it was initially funded by the Poor Law Guardians.

The starched white caps and aprons, blue uniforms, and carbolic smell all formed part of a very different world to the one we’re now used to.

Those patients, nurses, and doctors wouldn't recognize the modern-day Southampton General Hospital if they returned from all those years ago. When one looks at the vast hospital that now serves the city and beyond, it is hard to imagine that the old infirmary once had a farm that supplied fresh vegetables for the kitchens, grew two crops of hay annually and had its own herd of pigs.

The land for the new infirmary was purchased in 1900 for £8,200 and the building designed by architect Mr Gutteridge. The construction itself was handled by Henry Cawte of Shirley at a cost of £64,800. The chairman of the Board of Guardians Charles George Thomas laid the foundation stone on March 6, of the same year.

Daily Echo: Entrance to the old hospital.Entrance to the old hospital. (Image: Echo)

The original premises was a two-storey red brick building with a long corridor flanked on either side by wards. At the end of each ward was an open verandah and stretches of lawn between each ward.

At first, the infirmary had 289 beds and it was not until later in the 1900s that early X-ray equipment was installed at the hospital.

During the Second World War, as with the First World War of 1914 to 1918, the hospital treated many military casualties including more than 900 soldiers following the retreat from Dunkirk in 1940.

When the National Health Service came into being in 1948, the hospital took its present name: Southampton General Hospital.

In 1949 the Southampton School of Nurse Training opened as before trainees had to pay one guinea (£1.05) entrance fee and then a further 30 guineas (£31.50) for a year’s instruction.

Daily Echo: The children's ward at the old infirmary more than a century ago.The children's ward at the old infirmary more than a century ago. (Image: Echo)

In the years since the NHS was founded, Southampton General Hospital has undergone a number of changes and expansions.

In 1965, the Wessex Neurological Unit opened on the site, and in 1974, the East Wing was constructed, providing 450 additional beds, a new Accident and Emergency Department and a children's unit.

The accident and emergency department moved from the Royal South Hants as did the children’s unit which was previously based in Winchester Road.

The traditional long Nightingale wards disappeared.

In 1977 the hospital’s Centre Block opened at a cost of £9m while the Princess Anne maternity hospital welcomed its first mum-to-be three years later.

Daily Echo: Queen Elizabeth II at Southampton General Hospital.Queen Elizabeth II at Southampton General Hospital. (Image: Echo)

But these changes are just a few in a long line as the hospital constantly grows and evolves to help the injured and sick while pushing the boundaries of medical science. The hospital is considered one of the best-equipped and most advanced medical and surgical centres in the country. It is a major trauma centre for both adults and children, and it is also home to a number of specialist services, including neurosciences, oncology, and cardiology.

The NHS in Southampton has played a vital role in providing healthcare to the city's residents for 75 years. The hospital has seen many changes in that time but it has always remained committed to providing high-quality care to its patients.