Only public district general and teaching hospital in Gibraltar’s Europort.
St Bernard’s Hospital is Gibraltar’s only public district general and teaching hospital. Founded in 1567 by innkeeper Juan Mateos, it later passed to the Order of Saint John of God and became “Hospital de San Juan de Dios.” Operated by the Gibraltar Health Authority, it relocated in 2005 to Blocks 1–4 Europort.
St Bernard’s Hospital is the only public hospital and a teaching hospital in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, serving as the territory’s district general hospital. Its origins date to 1567, when Spanish innkeeper Juan Mateos converted his house into a 20‑bed hospital caring for locals and sailors. In 1591 he transferred the hospital to the Order of Saint John of God and joined the order himself. By 1691 it was known as “Hospital de San Juan de Dios,” functioning as an isolation hospital. After the Anglo‑Dutch capture of Gibraltar in 1704, British authorities took over the existing Spanish hospital as a military hospital. It served at different times as a naval hospital, garrison hospital and later barracks, and was badly damaged during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. In 1815 it was extensively rebuilt under Governor Sir George Don as a civil hospital for the local population. The building was rebuilt again in 1882, later gaining the King George VI Wing in the 1950s and the Mackintosh Wing in the 1970s. In 2005 St Bernard’s Hospital moved from the old colonial site to a modern facility in Blocks 1–4 Europort on Europort Avenue. It is operated by the Gibraltar Health Authority, offers social health insurance, provides emergency services and has around 210 beds, with an affiliation to Kingston University.
