Inside eerie abandoned hospital at centre of scandal over stolen medical files

02 February 2024 , 11:19

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The hospital has been left to decay (Image: mediadrumimages/Jordan L)

A hospital involved in a scandal after intruders stole sensitive medical documents and sold them online has been found left abandoned.

Images from inside the wards show medical equipment that would have been used for infectious diseases and cancer treatments and areas where children would have played during their stays. Photographer Jordan captured images of the abandoned Belvoir Park Hospital in Belfast.

The hospital closed down in March 2006 after the services were transferred to Belfast city hospital and it has been left abandoned ever since. The Belvoir Park Hospital opened its doors in Purdysburn Fever Hospital in 1906, before being renamed as the Montgomery House in 195 - it then became known as the Belvoir Park Hospital in the 1960s.

Jordan said: "The hospital became the main regional centre for oncology, offering radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments and in 1983, the hospital was the first in the province to take delivery of a CT scanner. Friends of Montgomery House, a charity founded by Dr Gerard Lynch to help cancer sufferers and their families, was established in 1984 and the hospital's Gerard Lynch Centre held many cancer support groups, in order to aid both sufferers and their families."

Inside the abandoned hospital (mediadrumimages/Jordan L)

The building is now infamous in Ireland after sensitive medical documents were removed from the premises after the hospital was shut down and abandoned, which later was put up for sale on the internet. This came after reports of the building being locked but not secure came to light, with authorities failing to notify the information commissioner, who oversaw breaches of the data protection act.

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Everything has just been left (mediadrumimages/Jordan L)

"It wasn't controversial during its operation but after it closed is when things get dicey," she said. "The Irish News reported that sensitive medical documents were removed from the site. Some of which were later put up for sale on the internet. It is also claimed the intruders took photos of x-rays and equipment."

This was once a children's area (mediadrumimages/Jordan L)

Despite the unsavoury history of people stealing important information, there is still a lot of history left behind, such as an iron lung from the 1950s, which Jordan was ecstatic to find. "My favourite part was the combination of old medical equipment and the natural decay slowly taking over. The strangest thing I found was an Iron lung that dated back to the 1950's."

Kelly-Ann Mills