Countless patients, any number of staff and endless untold stories have all played their part in the 70 years of the NHS at Dorset County Hospital. But the hospital's history goes back even further than that - to a time when medical practice was unrecognisably different to the service we see today.

The hospital was incorporated into the new National Health Service when the NHS was founded in July 1948, and remains the largest and most important centre of healthcare in the western part of Dorset. But it had by that point existed for more than a century.

Dorset County Hospital was founded in 1840 with donations from wealthy businessmen and politicians, with the express aim of treating the labouring and agricultural poor, who were, in the words of the founders, 'more liable to the attacks of disease and the casualties of life'.

"The Victorian hospital prioritised patients who could be 'cured' or 'relieved,'" wrote local historian Mark Collyer at the time of the hospital's 175th anniversary in 2015. "It was not there to provide long-term residential care for the elderly or those with chronic conditions, and where possible deaths in the hospital were avoided.

"Initially, DCH did not admit expectant mothers. A female patient, even if she had a legitimate medical need, would be discharged if found to be pregnant.

"Such was the experience of Jane Wills, the 26-year-old wife of a labourer from Broadmayne, who was admitted in October 1859 for surgery on a mammary abscess but was discharged within a month 'on account of pregnancy' - the baby was born at home early the following year."

It was not until 1921 that the hospital began to take expectant mothers - in limited numbers.

DCH has always had a long connection with royalty, dating almost to its founding. Dowager Queen Adelaide - the widow of William IV - was patroness of the hospital's 1841 bazaar and donated items to the event, including 'a beautiful piece of embroidery ... and a great number of needle cases, purses and other articles'.

The royal connection was continued when the then Prince of Wales - later Edward VII - became patron of the hospital in 1866. When on the throne, surgeons from the hospital carried out the king's appendectomy.

More recently, the current Prince of Wales has been a frequent visitor to DCH, opening the first phase of the new building in 1986. He returned in 2012 to open the Fortuneswell cancer ward.

"The hospital's royal connections have had practical fundraising value," wrote Mr Collyer. "They have raised the spirits of patients and staff, and they have symbolised the hospital's enduring importance to the people of Dorset."

For the first century of the hospital's history, funding depended on voluntary contributions raised from wealthy private donors or fundraising events, such as one in 1921 opened by feted local author Thomas Hardy. Since 1948, however, taxpayer money via the NHS has funded the hospital's operations in their near-entirety - through charitable donations are still used for certain auxiliary services.

One such charitable program is Arts in Hospital. The DCH-based program stresses the importance of aesthetically pleasant surroundings to patient care - and to alleviate symptoms of mental degeneration.

"We work to improve the environment through art," said coordinator Alex Murdin, himself an artist. "More and more research shows that patients get better much more quickly when they have beautiful views and stimulating surroundings."

The group also involves patients in arts, crafts and music in order to aid their recovery process or alleviate their conditions.

"It's especially useful for dementia patients," Mr Murdin said. "We know now that music is the last thing that remains in the memory, when everything else has gone."

Arts in Hospital also puts on exhibitions and collects artworks - including, on permanent display, its prize piece, a sculpture by noted Dorset artist Elisabeth Frink.

'THINGS NEED TO CHANGE': LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FUTURE OF THE NHS

As reported, DCH celebrated the health service's 70th anniversary with a tea-party on Monday, taking the chance to thank volunteers, patients and staff - including one who was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement award.

Hugh Bellis has worked as an orthodontic consultant at DCH since November 1992 and has worked within the NHS since 1980 - a lapse of time that has seen huge and near-constant change in the health service.

"My good colleagues in my team nominated me - without my knowledge," he said of his award.

"To be honest, I was completely speechless to hear that I had been put up for [the award], and even more so to hear that I had been honoured with an award. These things never happen to me."

He added his pride at being involved in cutting orthodontics waiting times at the hospital from an astonishing four years when he arrived. "Now there's only a six-week waiting list to be seen, and no waiting times at all for treatment," he revealed.

However, he argued that while some elements of the health service were better now than when he joined, other elements were worse.

The orthodontist singled out for criticism the prevailing management structure of the NHS, which separates purchasers and providers of care.

"The system treats patients like commodities," he warned. "And they're not. They're human beings. I think the system across the NHS needs to be looked at again. There needs to be unity between commissioning and provision of care."

He added that this applied as much to orthodontics as any other department. "Things need to change," he went on. "If the NHS is to last in its current form for another 70 years."