History

State Institutes - the predecessor of the University Hospital

In 1892, Emperor Franz Joseph I and the State Diet in Brno granted approval for the construction of State Institutes in Olomouc on the Tabulový Vrch hill; construction of the predecessor of today's University Hospital Olomouc started two years later. The new hospital was officially handed over to the directorate on 19 August 1896. In September 1896 patients were moved to the new premises from the now abolished Conventual Franciscans Monastery in Křížkovského Street, Olomouc, which had been the city's hospital since 1787. The new state institutes had a capacity of 212 beds; the capacity was later increased to 268 beds. Medical, surgical, eye and isolation wards, as well as a pharmacy, a material store, physicians' flats, clerical workers' accommodation and a home for nuns were established within the new hospital. There was also a kitchen, a laundry, an engine and boiler house, and stables on the premises. A new Maternity Ward was opened in 1899, an eye department in 1904 and a dissecting room in 1906; a Dermato-Venereology Department, laboratories and a second operating theatre in the Surgical Department were opened two years later. ENT was established in the Eye Clinic building in 1925 and the Children's Department was opened five years later.

Olomouc University Hospital after 1950

Another construction stage for the hospital started in 1950 with the building of a separate stomatology clinic. An Allergology Department of the Second Clinic of Internal Medicine was opened a year later, and a new office building was added in 1953. The following departments and clinics came into operation in the 1960s: Department of Forensic Medicine in 1961, Urological Clinic in 1964, a refurbished Gynaecological-Obstetric Clinic in 1956-1960, a separate Neurosurgery Ward in 1959 and a hospital pharmacy in 1961. The Second Surgical Clinic was established in Olomouc - Řepčín, away from the premises of the University Hospital, in 1962. The Third Clinic of Internal Medicine was refurbished in 1964 and the Nuclear Medicine Department and new Central Biochemistry Laboratories came into operation in 1965. The refurbishment of the First and Second Clinics of Internal Medicine was completed in 1968 and the Blood Transfusion Department was expanded in the same year. The construction of a new building for the Children's Clinic and extensions to the surgical theatres of the First Surgical Clinic, the Urology Department and the Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation Department were completed in 1976. The Third Stomatology Clinic was opened in 1977 and the Oncology Clinic was added in 1979. The First and Second Stomatology Clinics in the building located on Palacký Street were refurbished in 1980. A new Skin Clinic began operation in 1981 and the Allergology Department and blood bank started in 1982. Refurbishment of the Orthopaedic Clinic began in 1984 and the Long-Stay Ward was completed a year later. From 1970, the investment activities and works were primarily conducted within "initiative Z" (community-improvement unpaid manual labour by population), where all employees of Olomouc University Hospital took part in regular voluntary work on Sundays.

Modernisation and Completion after 1989

After 1989, the project referred to as "Modernisation and Completion of Olomouc University Hospital" was approved by the Government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and the refurbishment of the centre of the University Hospital was started in 1992. This involved the construction of a central building of surgical departments, referred to as the surgery mono-block, including fourteen new surgical theatres and state-of-the-art equipment. Individual new departments were gradually put into operation immediately after their completion. The project was completed in 2004. At the end of 2008, the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic approved a network of Oncology and Traumatology Centres. As a result, Olomouc University Hospital became one of thirteen comprehensive oncology centres, one of seven haematology centres and one of eleven traumatology centres in the country. The Psychiatric Clinic was completely refurbished in 2009.

Present and future

Olomouc University Hospital is the largest medical facility in the Olomouc Region and the sixth largest hospital in the Czech Republic. It belongs to the network of nine teaching hospitals directly managed by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. There are 68 medical workplaces concentrated in the hospital complex. The current bed stock is 1,198 beds. With a total of more than four thousand employees, Olomouc University Hospital is one of the largest employers in the region. The hospital management continues the gradual modernization, both in terms of construction and equipment.

In 2010 a new building of the top PET / CT (positron emission tomography / computed tomography) diagnostic workplace was opened, and it won the Construction of the Year award in the Olomouc Region. The new pharmacy, which is one of the most modern pharmacy complexes in the Czech Republic, was also awarded the same title in 2015. Two years later, the construction of the pipeline post, a unique communication system that connects individual workplaces and measures 13.5 km, was completed. Pipeline mail is served by around 100 stations at individual clinics and is continuously expanded. The newly-constructed Second Clinic of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics was completed in 2018, and is the largest construction event on the hospital premises in the last ten years. The new building has five above-ground and one underground floor and is the only hospital building in the Czech Republic that meets the standards of a passive building.