The Royal North Shore Hospital was established in 1885 at St Leonards. It was a general hospital and took maternity cases. Many adoptions were arranged from Royal North Shore Hospital and it holds the adoption records of the nearby Mater Misericordiae Hospital.
The Royal North Shore Hospital continues in 2013 to meet the health needs of four local government areas, Mosman, Willoughby, Lane Cove and North Sydney.
Royal North Shore Hospital was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Inquiry (2012) as an institution that was involved in forced adoption.