Hello, I'm Mr. Marchin, and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.

I'll be guiding you through all of our resources today, and my top priority is to make sure that by the end of our lesson, you are able to successfully meet our learning objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on Renaissance medicine and Health, where we've been asking ourselves what medical knowledge changed in this period? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to evaluate the extent of change in hospital care in Britain between 1500 and 1800.

There are two key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are dissolution and unsanitary.

Dissolution is the act or process of closing an organisation, and if something is unsanitary, it's dirty or unhealthy, and therefore likely to cause disease.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts and we'll begin by focusing on hospitals and the dissolution of the monasteries.

In mediaeval England, the Catholic Church was the main supporter of hospital care.

Challenges to the power and wealth of the Catholic Church during the 16th century therefore had a major impact on hospital care.

In the early 1530s, King Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church.

Having done this, Henry and his ministers began to target the wealth the Catholic Church held in England and Wales.

This process has become known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Catholic monasteries had been particularly wealthy, owning large amounts of land and many valuable items. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, many of these monasteries were closed down, and their wealth was confiscated by the Royal Government.

As many hospitals had been linked to monasteries, their dissolution had a major impact on hospital care during the 16th century.

Without funding from the Catholic Church, many hospitals across the country were forced to close down.

Some hospitals did survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries though.

For one St.

Bartholomew's Hospital in London was refound by Henry VIII in 1546, helping it to survive.

However, for the most part, Henry was more interested in using his newfound wealth to fund wars rather than hospitals.

As a result, most hospitals which survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries did so because they were taken over by local authorities.

For example, St.

Giles' Hospital in Norwich, which had previously been run by monks from the city's cathedral, was taken over and funded by city authorities.

However, especially in poorer areas, it proved much harder to replace the support the Catholic Church had previously provided for hospitals.

This meant that many people suffered from poorer access to hospital care.

For instance, by 1665, there were just four small hospitals providing care for the entirety of Northwest Wales.

So thinking about what we've just heard, I want you to write the missing number and name for the following sentence.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries occurred during the blank century and was a result of blank split with the Catholic Church.

So what's the missing number and name? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answers.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing name and number were 16th and Henry VIII.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries occurred during the sixteenth century and was a result of Henry VIII's split with the Catholic Church.

Let's try another question.

This time, we have a statement which reads, the Dissolution of the Monasteries reduced access to hospital care in many areas.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So why is it that that original statement is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said monasteries had been major supporters of hospital care.

So their closure meant that many hospitals lost their funding and closed too.

And let's try another question.

Who ran St.

Giles' Hospital in Norwich after the Dissolution of the Monasteries? Was it the Church of England, local authorities, or the monarch? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

Like most other hospitals that were able to survive the Dissolution of Monasteries, St.

Giles' Hospital in Norwich was taken over by local authorities who ran and funded it.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about hospitals and the Dissolution of the Monasteries into practise.

Jacob and Jun disagree with one another.

Jun says that the Dissolution of the Monasteries made it easier to access hospital care, whereas Jacob says that the Dissolution of the Monasteries made hospital care less accessible.

So whose view is more accurate? Jun's or Jacob's? Explain your answer.

So pause the video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you whose view was more accurate, Jun's or Jacob's? And your answer may have included.

Jacob's view is more accurate than Jun's because monasteries were closed in the 16th century during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

This removed one of the main sources of support and funding for most hospitals.

Some hospitals were taken over by local authorities, such as St.

Giles' Hospital in Norwich, ensuring that they could stay open.

However, this was not always the case and especially not in poorer areas, meaning some hospitals closed down.

Therefore access to hospital care reduced as a result of Henry VIII's split with the Catholic Church.

So really well done if your own response looks something like that model we've just seen.

And now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson for today, where we are going to think about access to hospital care.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, access to hospital care in Britain improved.

This improvement was largely down to new hospitals being set up, especially in the 18th century.

During the 17th century, it remained far more common for people to receive care from within their own communities than in hospitals.

Most ordinary people continue to receive care in their own homes or from within their local communities, especially from women.

At this time, there was little change in the accessibility of hospital care for most people.

As few new general hospitals were set up during the seventeenth century.

However, for those suffering from infectious diseases, there was increased access to specialist hospital care as pest houses also known as plague or pox houses were set up.

Whilst general hospitals usually refuse to look after patients with infectious diseases like plague or smallpox, pest houses specifically cared for these types of patients.

This is because pest houses were intended to remove infected people from the rest of their communities to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

For this reason, pest houses, like the one founded at Tothill Fields in London in 1638 were set up on the outskirts of towns and cities.

So why were pest houses usually set up on the outskirts of towns and cities? Was it because it was easier to access clean water and fresh air? Because most patients lived on the outskirts of these areas or to prevent the spread of infectious diseases? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was C.

Pest houses were usually set up on the outskirts of towns and cities as they looked after infectious patients.

And the idea was to remove these patients from the rest of their communities to prevent the spread of their infectious diseases.

In the 18th century, access to hospital care improved considerably as there was a boom in hospital foundations.

Many of these new hospitals were funded by wealthy businessmen who hoped that funding new hospitals would act as a good deed and demonstrate their faith to others.

For instance, Guy's Hospital in London was founded in 1724 by the wealthy merchant Thomas Guy.

In fact, five new general hospitals were set up in London alone between 1720 and 1750, and nine more were founded elsewhere in the country.

Alongside general hospitals, access to hospital care was also improved as more specialist hospitals was set up to address the needs of a wide range of patients.

For instance, in London, the Foundling Hospital was started in 1741 for orphaned children.

The London Lock Hospital was founded in 1746 for venereal diseases, and the British Lying-In Hospital was settled in 1749 as one of the earliest maternity hospitals in the country, providing care for pregnant women.

Previously, some mediaeval hospitals had refused to admit pregnant women and most women had had no choice but to give birth in their own homes.

So let's reflect on everything we've just heard.

How many new general hospitals were founded in London between 1720 and 1750? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the answer was five.

Five new general hospitals were founded in London alone between 1720 and 1750.

And what group of patients did the British Lying-In Hospital specialise in caring for? Was it orphaned children, plague victims, or pregnant women? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

The British Lying-In Hospital founded in 1749 provided specialist care to pregnant women as it was a maternity hospital.

So we are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about access to hospital care into practise.

I want you to describe two ways in which hospital care became more accessible during the 17th and 18th centuries.

You may refer to new hospitals and who hospitals provided care for.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So I asked you to describe two ways in which hospital care became more accessible during the 17th and 18th centuries.

And your answer may have included, hospital care became more accessible during the 17th and 18th centuries because many new hospitals were founded at this time.

For example, five new general hospitals were founded in London between 1720 and 1750, and nine more across the rest of Britain in the same period.

This included Guy's Hospital in London, which was founded by Thomas Guy, a wealthy merchant.

Your answer may also have included hospital care became more accessible during the 17th and 18th centuries as new specialist hospitals offered care to groups who'd previously been excluded.

For example, pest houses such as the one at Tothill Fields were set up on the outskirts of many towns for infectious patients like those who had plague or smallpox.

Similarly, pregnant women gained more access to hospital care as maternity hospitals like the British Lying-In Hospital were founded in 1749.

So really well done if your own answer looks something like those models which we've just seen.

And that means we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today, where we are going to think about treatment and staffing in hospitals.

Mediaeval hospitals focused mainly on providing spiritual care to their patients.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, hospital care shifted increasingly towards providing physical treatment to help people recover from their illnesses.

Mediaeval hospitals, because of their strong links with the Catholic Church, had mainly been staffed by nuns and monks rather than medical professionals.

However, in the 17th century, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it became increasingly common for physicians, barber surgeons, and apothecaries to work in hospitals.

For example, from 1609 onwards, the physician in charge at St.

Bartholomew's Hospital in London was William Harvey, who was also King Charles I's personal physician.

As physicians worked more in hospitals, it also became more common for hospitals to become locations of medical training.

For instance, in Edinburgh, final year medical students would often spend part of their time following their professors as they worked in the wards of the city's hospitals.

Hospitals also had nursing staff to help provide care for their patients.

However, nurses usually lacked medical training and their work was often considered unskilled.

So which inference is most valid based on William Harvey's life and work? That high profile physicians avoided work in hospitals, that high profile physicians criticised care in hospitals, or that high profile physicians often worked in hospitals? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was C, William Harvey's life and work suggests that high profile physicians often worked in hospitals as he was the physician in charge at St.

Bartholomew's Hospital in London from 1609 onwards.

As hospitals had more dedicated medical staff, they also placed more emphasis on providing physical treatments rather than spiritual care to help manage their patient's health.

This included establishing dispensaries to provide medicine to those who needed it.

For example, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh established a public dispensary in 1776, of Edinburgh established a public dispensary in 1776, Nevertheless, treatment in hospitals was mainly based on the ancient theory of the Four Humours, which suggested that illness was caused by liquids or humus inside the body becoming out of balance.

Therefore, the treatment patients received was often not very effective as it consisted of procedures such as bloodletting and purging.

Furthermore, once there was an increased focus on trying to cure patients' illnesses, the conditions in hospitals actually became a greater threat to patient's health during the 18th century.

The size of hospitals, and number of patients treated there increased significantly in this period.

Because of this, hospitals became more unsanitary than they had been in the mediaeval period, and diseases spread more easily between patients.

So let's reflect on everything we've just read.

We have a statement on the screen that says hospital treatments became significantly more effective during the 18th century.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false.

But we need to be able to justify our response.

So why is it that that original statement was incorrect? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said treatments in most hospitals continue to be based on the incorrect theory of the Four Humours.

And so unhelpful practises such as bloodletting and purging remained common.

And let's try another question.

Which statement is correct? 18th century hospitals were less than unsanitary than mediaeval hospitals, 18th century hospitals were just as unsanitary as mediaeval hospitals, or 18th century hospitals were more unsanitary than mediaeval hospitals.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

As hospitals grew in size and took more patients in, 18th century hospitals became more unsanitary than they had been in the mediaeval period.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about hospitals into practise.

We have a statement which says, hospitals in Britain constantly improved between 1500 and 1800.

How far do you agree? I want you to explain your answer.

And as part of that, you may refer to access to hospital care, to the types of treatment available and provided, to hospital staffing, and conditions in hospitals.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So we had the statement, hospitals in Britain constantly improved between 1500 and 1800, and I asked how far you agreed with that.

Your answer may have included, although there were many improvements in hospital care between 1500 and 1800, it is inaccurate to say that these improvements were constant.

For instance, access to hospital care improved significantly in the 18th century as many new hospitals were set up and funded by wealthy individuals.

In London alone, five new general hospitals were founded between 1720 and 1750.

However, in the 16th century, the Dissolution of the Monasteries led to many hospitals closing and made access to hospital care, particularly difficult in poorer areas.

Therefore, access became both worse and better at different stages in the years between 1500 to 1800.

Similarly, different aspects of hospital care experienced very different changes.

Staffing improved as hospitals began to employ more medical professionals, like physicians and surgeons.

For example, the leading physician, William Harvey, worked at St.

Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

This meant that hospitals were better equipped to help patients.

However, while staffing improved, patient's health began to face new threats in hospitals.

During the 18th century as patient numbers rose, many hospitals became unsanitary, which encouraged the spread of diseases and endangered patients' lives.

Therefore, it's clear that hospitals did not constantly improve from 1500 to 1800.

So really well done if your own response looks something similar to that model which we've just seen.

And that means we've now reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning about hospital care in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

We've seen that it became harder to access hospital care after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century as many hospitals closed.

There was an increase in specialist hospitals, such as pest houses and maternity hospitals during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Many new general hospitals were also founded in the 18th century, but as patient numbers increased, hospitals also became more unsanitary.

And although more physicians and surgeons were employed in hospitals from the 17th century onwards, many treatments were ineffective as they were based on the theory of the Four Humours.

So really well done for all of your efforts during today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to help guide you through our resources today, and I look forward to seeing you again in future as we continue to think about Renaissance medicine and health.