Lancaster Health & Medical Museum Collection

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Lancaster Health & Medical Museum Collection

Lancaster's rich medical history includes, amongst others, Roman surgery, St.

Leonard’s leprosy hospital, two famous anatomists, epidemics, jail fever, one of the ‘Black Assizes’, and the second oldest surviving Medical Book Club in the UK

01/09/2026

Metal Clysters are our objects for September and Ian Dewar takes us on a fascinating armchair archaeological journey - right back to the Roman era - delving into the dual purposes of these syringes through the ages, looking at the benefits of their use and what they were used for https://lancasterhealthmedicalmuseum.org.uk/?page_id=781

01/08/2026

August Object of the Month is Issue No. 4 of Concord the group news sheet from Christmas 1972 produced by North Lancashire and South Westmorland Hospital Management Committee.

First issued in March 1972, it was an exercise in internal communications to allay mounting anxieties about the future of the National Health Service (NHS) on the cusp of its first major reorganisation since its creation in 1948.

Anxieties were many. 1972 saw the publication of the Briggs Report into nursing. This reshaped its professional identity away from nursing as a vocation towards research, education and training. Briggs arrived at the same time as a progress report on the 1966 Salmon Report which had standardised nursing pay, hierarchy and graded responsibilities.

https://lancasterhealthmedicalmuseum.org.uk/?page_id=779

01/07/2026

This image is of a humble book of matches from a hundred years ago, but the stories behind it are powerful. From the urgent need to extend the RLI due to the increasing population of Lancaster, to the devasting medical conditions that the chemicals used in their manufacture caused, and the fascinating history of matchbooks. Our smallest item so far but a really interesting article. https://lancasterhealthmedicalmuseum.org.uk/?page_id=777

01/06/2026

Between 1964 and 1968 the brand new Lancaster University proposed establishing a Medical School. It was an attempt which failed but these fascinating documents uncovered by Dr Michael Lambert formed part of the narrative, and provide ways of understanding the complex relationships within the NHS between policy, place, medical and higher education https://lancasterhealthmedicalmuseum.org.uk/?page_id=775

02/05/2026

Our May Object of the month is The Swinging Thermometer Case. Because of the hazards of mercury, which includes both brain and kidney damage, the mercury clinical thermometer has not been in use in the UK for over 25 years. After a reading the mercury was returned to the bottom of the thermometer by vigorous shaking with a risk that the thermometer might be dropped. A much easier and safer way to do this was to use the ‘Swinging Thermometer Case’ - https://lancasterhealthmedicalmuseum.org.uk/?page_id=804

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