Hospital
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In 1823 a voluntary dispensary was established at Cock St, now High St, Hitchin, to look after the sick and lame poor in the town and vicinity. It was administered by a committee of governors and subscribers. The dispensary dealt only with patients recommended by the governors and subscribers. A medical officer gave his services free for two hours a week. Patients in the town who were too sick to be moved, could be visited by the dispensary doctor. The overseers of the poor in Hitchin parish and neighbouring parishes were entitled to recommend patients according to the amount of their annual subscription. By 1829 thirty-one parishes were using the establishment and the number of patients had increased to 357 annually. The subscribers felt the objects of the dispensary attained, but this alone could not deal with the more serious cases. In 1829 they established a fund from which grew the North Herts and South Beds Hospital. By 1840 Hitchin Infirmary was erected in Pound Lane, now Brand Street. It opened in October 1840, but the accommodation was insufficient. The governors were unwilling to increase it until they had cleared their debts. They compromised by increasing the number of beds to twelve. Applications for admission increased. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 imposed an extra strain, as the paid medical officers in the parishes were dismissed, and the workhouse hospital in Hitchin was inadequate. By the late 1890s many of the parishes had a trained district nurse, but the number of patients still increased, mainly because of population growth. The hospital continued to be used mainly for the relief of the sick poor. c.1900 the name changed to the North Herts and South Beds Hospital, indicating the area the infirmary had begun to serve. In 1948 the hospital became part of the NHS. The North Hertfordshire Maternity Unit at the same address continued separately upto 1982, but had ceased to exist by 1985.