Hospital service

The history of the Warkworth Cottage Hospital chronicles a changing approach to maternity care through the decades. In the late 19th century midwives on horseback attended mother and baby in the home. Losing a young mother through complications following childbirth was an all too common occurrence. Registration of midwives was required by 1904 and as the new century advanced the need for a hospital at Warkworth was a growing concern.

Access to Auckland was limited to three steamers a week and one train a day. Emergency cases could be transported by launch if the sea was not too rough. The Auckland Hospital Board agreed to establish a cottage as a base for the district nurse. Twelve acres of land on which stood a suitable cottage were purchased and the hospital officially opened on 16 June 1914. In 1916, the cottage was enlarged and a horse ambulance supplied. A paddock was set aside for the nurse to graze her horse.

Improvements in 1925 included electric light, hot water and more accommodation for staff and patients. The birth of the Sharp twins in 1939 made the headlines. They were the first children to be born in New Zealand under social security.

Congratulatory telegrams were received from Prime Minister Savage and Hon. Peter Fraser.

By the 1950s an enlarged hospital stood in spacious grounds. Mothers stayed 10-14 days and enjoyed home cooked meals often prepared using produce from the garden. Babies were kept in the nursery and fed four hourly to a strict routine. A directive from the Health Department in 1959 encouraged rooming in for the good of the mother’s mental health.

Just when the pinnacle of care had seemingly been reached along came the Gibbs report recommending the closure of small hospitals and shortened length of hospital stay for all patients. The Warkworth and Wellsford communities mounted a vigorous campaign to save the hospital but to no avail. There was time to celebrate 75 years of service to the area before the closure in 1992. For those who look back with nostalgia the archives of the Warkworth and Districts Museum contain a comprehensive record and on permanent display in the museum is a hospital room of yesteryear.