Situated on St Michael’s Hill in Bristol, St Michael’s Hospital has occupied its current site since 1975, when it opened as the Bristol Maternity Hospital. Today it operates under the management of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, providing maternity and related services to the city and the wider region. The hospital has 114 beds in total, and the majority of its services run around the clock, though there is no Accident and Emergency department on site.
A Long and Changing History
The origins of the institution stretch back to 1865, when it was established at Alfred Place under the name the Temporary Home for Young Girls Who Have Gone Astray. Over the following decades it shifted location several times, moving to Southwell Street in 1871 and then briefly to St Michael’s Hill during the 1940s. When the National Health Service was formed in 1948, the hospital joined it under the name the Bristol Lying-In Hospital. Shortly afterwards it relocated again, this time to Queen Victoria House on Durdham Down, where Clementine Churchill carried out an official opening ceremony in November 1950. The hospital returned to St Michael’s Hill in 1975, operating as the Bristol Maternity Hospital, before taking on the name St Michael’s Hospital during the 1980s.
Services and Care
The midwifery team at St Michael’s works with pregnant women to give them a say in how their care is planned and delivered, covering pregnancy, labour, and the period after birth. The hospital also provides gynaecology services, as well as ENT and Clinical Genetics. A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) cares for sick and premature babies not only from Bristol but from across the South West of England and South Wales. A chaplaincy team supports patients of all faiths, and a quiet room is available to people of any denomination or none. In May 2025, a fire broke out on the hospital roof, prompting a partial evacuation of the building. The hospital was back in full operation within approximately two hours.
The Cots for Tots Appeal
In 2010, Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal – the charity linked to Bristol Children’s Hospital – launched the Cots for Tots appeal to raise funds in support of the intensive care unit at St Michael’s. The appeal brought wider public attention to the work carried out in the NICU and the ongoing need for equipment and resources to care for the most vulnerable newborns in the region.