Lottery cash to help preserve hospital trust’s historical artefacts

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton has received almost £100,000 of National Lottery funding to help preserve some of its most treasured and historical artefacts.

An ivory hammer, used by Queen Victoria to open the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary in 1891, is just one of the many important items from the trust’s past that will benefit from the funding boost.

In total, UHDB has a collection of more than 1,000 medical artefacts that will now be fully catalogued, conserved and safely rehoused to ensure their long-term survival, through the trust’s Medical Museum project.

The project, which is managed by Air Arts, UHDB’s arts charity, will officially start in September.

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Undertaken in partnership with Royal Derby Hospital’s Library Service, it will see the different objects displayed through various museum exhibitions across each of the hospitals, thanks to the £98,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Laura Waters, head of Air Arts, said: “It is quite unusual for a hospital to receive this type of funding.

“However, we are extremely grateful and excited to start our project.

“It will be fantastic to be able to share the hospital medical archive with patients and staff as part of the recovery process.”

The collection includes a vast array of military nursing medals, Florence Nightingale memorabilia, stained glass windows from the original hospital chapel, old uniforms, surgical instruments and photographs.

Laura said: “A collection of such importance has to be professionally housed to ensure its long-term survival, particularly the many fragile objects that would rapidly deteriorate if not stored correctly.

“Having this funding will enable us to protect this important collection at this critical point in our history.

“The project will engage with staff, patients and visitors, many of whom may not visit heritage settings in their daily lives and could, therefore, be a first step on that road to better wellbeing, through the arts and culture.”