The Rosie is 25 years old

Since opening its doors on October 5, 1983, the maternity hospital has delivered thousands of babies – with some now coming back to have their own children.
The landmark anniversary will be celebrated by Rosie staff today (6) at a lunchtime tea party.

The first year of the Rosie saw 3,500 births but today it’s more like 5,500 as the area’s population continues to grow. Things have certainly changed since the early days of maternity care in Cambridge – there were just 23 deliveries at the city’s Mill Road maternity unit during 1934. The former workhouse for the poor remained Cambridge’s base for maternity services until the Rosie opened. The number of deliveries rapidly increased at Mill Road – reaching 1,000 annually by the mid 1940s. By 1961, the Ministry of Health opted to move the hospital and set a completion date of 1975. However, by 1980 the move had still not happened and was seemingly unlikely to take place until 1990-91.

But, in the same year, David Robinson, a local philanthropist, offered £3 million to build a new maternity hospital on the Hills Road site, paving the way for the Rosie to open and become a leading service for East Anglia.