Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkestone

The Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkestone, is a community hospital located on the edge of Radnor Park in Folkestone, Kent, in England.HistoryThe hospital opened in 1846, originally on Rendezvous Street, Folkestone, and known as the Folkestone Dispensary. In 1863 the name was expanded to Folkestone Dispensary and Infirmary and it relocated to a site on Dover Road, Folkestone. The new general hospital buildings were constructed on Radnor Park Avenue, and opened in 1890, when the name was again changed, this time to the Victoria Hospital. The prefix Royal was added in 1910. It served as an all-purpose general hospital for the town and Borough of Folkestone and the Rural District of Elham (both incorporated into the District of Shepway in 1974).In the 1970s, services were scaled down, with the focusing of regional hospital care in East Kent on the town of Ashford, Kent. In 1973 maternity services were moved to Ashford's Willesborough Hospital. In 1979 the new William Harvey Hospital opened in Ashford (ironically, named after Folkestone's William Harvey), and many other services were transferred here over the following years. In the early 1980s the accident and emergency department was closed, leaving the Royal Victoria Hospital dealing largely with eye surgery, stroke rehabilitation, and geriatric care. In the late 1980s a proposal was made that the hospital should be closed, but this was not executed.