Former hospital wing demolished at Royal Oldham

The demolished women and children's unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital. Image courtesy of the MEN / Kenny Brown

Our dramatic photo captures the moment a former hospital wing was demolished in Oldham this week.

The former Women and Children’s Unit of Royal Oldham Hospital is being bulldozed because the building is ‘no longer fit-for-purpose’, according to the Northern Care Alliance. 

The site on Sheepfoot Lane closed down in 2012, after the Women and Children’s Unit moved into a brand new £44m extension on The Royal Oldham Hospital site.

Since then, the building has deteriorated and become a community ‘eyesore’. 

The demolition was approved by Oldham Council in January, following an application by NCA in November 2024. 

Euan Connolly, the NCA’s principal planner, said: “The proposed part of the former Women and Children’s Building is no longer fit-for-purpose and is now considered surplus to the delivery of patient services at Royal Oldham Hospital.

"As such, the demolition of the building would free up valuable space to enable works to facilitate the installation of an aseptic unit within the curtilage of the hospital site.”

An aseptic unit is a part of a hospital where staff can safely sterilize equipment for treatments that need to be injected, such as chemotherapy or intravenous medicine.

Plans for the new unit are currently at the ‘design stage’, according to an NCA spokesperson. 

Photos show the building reduced to a pile of bricks and rubble.

Foundations of the building are still visible, with parts of the internal wall exposed to the elements.

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