Manchester Royal Infirmary

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The Manchester Royal Infirmary is a hospital in Manchester, England, founded by Charles White in 1752. It is now part of Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, sharing buildings and facilities with several other hospitals.The Infirmary itself specialises in cardiology, in renal medicine and surgery, and in kidney and pancreas transplants. Its A&E department deals with around 145,000 patients every year. The transplant team carried out 317 transplants in 2015, the most of any centre in the UK.BeginningThe first premises was a house in Garden Street, off Withy Grove, Manchester, which were opened on Monday 27 July 1752, financed by subscriptions. Government of the institution was in the hands of the trustees. Any subscriber who paid 2 guineas a year was a trustee. Those who donated 20 guineas became a trustee for life. The trustees appointed physicians and surgeons by voting. In 1835 900 trustees assembled to vote in the Town Hall. Joseph Jordan was elected, having secured 466 votes. He had spent £690, mostly on hiring vehicles to bring his supporters in to vote. By 1855 the subscription was 3 guineas, or a donation of 30 guineas.There were initially three physicians and three surgeons, Charles White being one. White co-founded the Infirmary with local industrialist Joseph Bancroft in 1752, and was an honorary surgeon there until 1790. One patient, John Boardman, suffering from Scrofula was treated. The first inpatient was admitted on 3 August, Benjamin Dooley, aged 12, suffering from "sordid ulcers in the leg" In 1753 it was decided to purchase surgical instruments and to establish a dispensary.