Blandford Hospital

Blandford Hospital opened on the current site in 1891 and has gone through many changes over the years. In 1938 the hospital had a major extension and in 1967 a physiotherapy unit was added. The development of the current building began in 1982 and was completed in 1986, with the new hospital being formally opened by The Princess Royal.

Services currently offered at the hospital, within the Portman Unit, include some minor surgery including podiatry, pain management procedures and maxillary facial surgery. There is a nurse-led minor injuries unit (MIU) equipped to assess and treat a variety of minor injuries and illnesses. It is only open on Monday and Wednesday (9am-5pm) with a final appointment time of 4.15pm.

We have an out-patients department staffed by visiting clinicians from other hospital trusts and our own nursing staff.

We have an X-ray department, outpatients department, physiotherapy department with therapy gym and Tarrant Ward, a 25 bed in-patient ward providing nursing/medical care and rehabilitation, including two new palliative care suites. There’s also an excellent dining room for patients, visitors and staff to enjoy quality food cooked fresh in-house.

In 2015 we brought health and social care teams together here to work side by side to better co-ordinate support for patients. In 2017 we launched our ‘virtual ward’, a multidisciplinary team including staff from the hospital, community, social services, GP surgery and mental health team. They meet weekly to discuss the care and needs of the vulnerable patients in our community.

Following some refurbishment work during 2024/25, the hospital welcomed a number of services and teams to the site. This included midwives, health visitors, mother and baby clinics, newborn baby hearing screening, paediatric speech and language, district nurses, continence services and learning disability services. In addition, The Betty Highwood Unit has also been refurbished, housing a new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) unit, providing support closer to home and a school's teams.

The hospital has always been and continues to be extremely well supported by the Friends of Blandford Hospital who fund many improvements within the hospital and the wider community to enhance the health and wellbeing of local people.

Your hospital stay

Minor injuries unit

If you require urgent care, please call 111 or go online for an assessment. This help us to provide the right support/treatment as quickly as possible, and could save you an unnecessary journey.

If you turn up unannounced at the MIU, you will be assessed but could be directed elsewhere or given an appointment later that day or the next.

The last appointment at all MIUs is half an hour before closing time.

Radiology facilities at our hospitals