| Background | The hospital was established in 1906 by Pontypridd Union as an infirmary to the workhouse opened in 1903. Ths was converted into hospital wards in 1927 to form the first general hospital in Rhondda. In 1935 a new outpatients department was opened. The hospital passed into the care of Pontypridd and Rhondda Hospital Management Committee under the National Health Service and developed into a large general hospital, taking on additional functions from neighbouring hospitals including casualty and outpatients services from Porth Hospital and geriatric patients from Glyncornel Hospital. A new pathology laboratory opened in 1959, a new geriatric unit in 1979 and a stroke ward in 1995. During the 1990s, however, the hospital served mainly as a community hospital for rehabilitation and the chronically sick. Outpatients survived changes but the surgery unit was closed in 1991 and the casualty unit was on restricted hours. The hospital was re-built on adjoining land in 2004-2007 and renamed Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda. |