Administrative history:
The Cheltenham Provident dispensary was founded in 1813, and in 1839 was moved to Seward House and renamed Cheltenham General Hospital. From 1849 the hospital has been housed in premises in Sandford Road. It took over the operation of the Cheltenham Ophthalmic Hospital c.1882, and was itself brought under the control of the National Health Service in 1948. The buildings have been extended many times, and the hospital is still in existence [1979].