Flower delivery to
Olten Cantonal Hospital

After 63 workers died in a major construction site accident in the Hauenstein Tunnel in 1857, calls for a hospital in the Olten region became loud. By 6,822 votes to 2,206, the electorate decided in 1878 to found a cantonal hospital. Construction began in the Hagmatte in the spring of 1880; the opening took place on November 6, 1880. In 1888 an east wing was added to the central building. In 1899 the first X-ray machine was installed, making the Olten Cantonal Hospital (KSO) the pioneer hospital in German-speaking Switzerland. The west wing of today's old KSO building was built between 1924 and 1927. In the 1950s and 1960s, among other things, an additional ward, a treatment and operating wing, an infection building and a staff house were built. Since 1995, the renovation and largely new construction of the KSO has been carried out in two construction phases. In the first construction phase, a ward and an operating and treatment wing were completed. In the first section of the second construction phase, the second ward block was built. In 2012, the entire construction phase was completed with the new main entrance and the treatment wing, which, among other things, houses the women's clinic and the medical outpatient clinic.