West Ward was one of the two original wards to be built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1872. It was designated a men’s medical ward and predominately took men with chest or heart complaints; these were often as a result of working in the towns industrial trades.
As with East Ward, West was a traditional nightingale ward with high ceilings, large windows to let the light into the ward and bare wooden floors, the ward had 12 beds. Two beds were kept reserved in the male ward for medical recommendations the rest were for patients, without recommendations. There were strict rules in place governing the running of the hospital; unlike Central ward where patients might be in traction for up to three months with a broken leg, West ward in contrast had patients for a much shorter period of time, “Patients shall not continue in the hospital or on the books of the dispensary for more than 2 months unless the medical officers shall certify to the weekly board that it is desirable that they should remain longer, friends shall be permitted to visit the patients on Sundays and Thursdays from 2 to 4 o’clock.”
West Ward was extended over a long period, most significantly with a conservatory for patients. As with the rest of Doncaster Gate Hospital West Ward was refitted in the 1970s after the major transfer of services to Rotherham District General.
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