Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
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Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) is the largest hospital in the
Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region to ...
area, located on the
Foresterhill Foresterhill is an area in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the site of the city's main hospitals (Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital and the Aberdeen Maternity Hospital), as well as the medical school and ...
site in
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, Scotland. ARI is a
teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
with around 900 inpatient beds, offering
tertiary care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...
for a population of over 600,000 across the North of Scotland. It offers all medical specialities with the exception of heart and liver transplants. It is managed by
NHS Grampian NHS Grampian is an NHS board which forms one of the fourteen regional health boards of NHS Scotland. It is responsible for proving health and social care services to a population of over 500,000 people living in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray ...
.


History

The hospital has it origins in a facility established at Woolmanhill in 1739. The move to the current site formed part of the Aberdeen Joint Hospitals Scheme as envisaged by Professor
Matthew Hay Matthew Hay (1855–1932) was a Scottish doctor and champion of Public Health. He was appointed Medical Officer of Health for the City of Aberdeen in 1888, a post he held until 1923. He was also Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Universit ...
, which involved the development of an integrated medical campus at Foresterhill. The granite buildings on the site were designed by James Brown Nicol. The hospital was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of York on 23 September 1936 –
King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...
had been due to open the infirmary but he called off his visit and instead went to
Ballater railway station Ballater railway station is a former station in the village of Ballater in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The station was formerly the terminus of a branch line from Aberdeen railway station, Aberdeen. It was the nearest station to Balmoral Castle, a ...
to meet
Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused ...
off her train. The first patients were admitted a month later and the hospital joined the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
in 1948. In 1984, a
hyperbaric oxygen Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...
unit was built for the treatment of
decompression illness Decompression Illness (DCI) comprises two different conditions caused by rapid decompression of the body. These conditions present similar symptoms and require the same initial first aid. Scuba divers are trained to ascend slowly from depth to av ...
and the hospital's
test-tube baby In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...
unit achieving a number of successful pregnancies in 1985, its first year of operation. In 1986, a new £550,000 out-patient eye clinic opened, offering corrective
laser eye surgery Eye surgery, also known as ophthalmic or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa, by an ophthalmologist or sometimes, an optometrist. Eye surgery is synonymous with ophthalmology. The eye is a very fragile organ, and requ ...
, and in 1989, the hospital introduced a
breast cancer screening Breast cancer screening is the medical screening of asymptomatic, apparently healthy women for breast cancer in an attempt to achieve an earlier diagnosis. The assumption is that early detection will improve outcomes. A number of screening tests ...
service for women over the age of 50, with X-rays taken every three years. In the 1980s John Mallard led a team which built the first whole body
MRI scanner The physics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) concerns fundamental physical considerations of MRI techniques and technological aspects of MRI devices. MRI is a medical imaging technique mostly used in radiology and nuclear medicine in order t ...
. The world's first whole-body MRI scanner was used for diagnostic imaging between 1980 and 1983. The prototype machine, Mark One is now on display in the hospital's Art Gallery, The Suttie Arts Space. Following fundraising by Evening Express readers, in 1992 a Siemens scanner, costing £870,000 was brought. In 2013, a £110m emergency care centre development was completed. This was the first time that the Foresterhill campus had hosted emergency and urgent care facilities in the same building, and 75% of the beds in the centre are single-occupancy. In February 2014, it was revealed that the hospital has a repairs backlog of £60 million. On 26 June 2014, Finance Secretary John Swinney announced a £120 million investment for a new cancer centre and maternity hospital on the site. In 2016, it became one of four major trauma centres as part of a national major trauma network in Scotland.


Services

There are social workers that can be contacted in the hospital, and a
citizens advice Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...
office. The hospital is served by the volunteer-run radio station, Grampian Hospital Radio.


Transportation

The complex is served by several bus services with regular connections to the city centre and service to places as far as
Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography Inverurie is in the vall ...
and
Oldmeldrum Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a population of around 2,187, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of popu ...
in the north,
Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
in the West and
Cove Bay Cove Bay, known locally as Cove, is a suburb on the south-east edge of Aberdeen, Scotland. Today Cove is home to around 8,000 people. It is a popular residential location owing to its village-like status. It is a quiet suburb at the Southern ed ...
in the south. A new multistorey carpark with space for over 1,000 cars was opened in 2017.


Research

There are close links with the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
's
medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
and there has been pioneering research in many fields, including the development of
MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...
and
PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...
scanning. A new PET scanner was installed in 2006. It has been one of the centres evaluating telemedicine equipment and developing services in Scotland.


Performance

The
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland is commonly known as the "Scottish Academy", but is not to be confused with the Royal Scottish Academy, which promotes contemporary Scottish art. It is analogous to the Academy of Medi ...
produced a report entitled “Learning from serious failings in care” in July 2015. The investigation was launched after recent scandals in the health service among which were concerns about patient safety and care at the Infirmary. They found leadership and accountability were often lacking and bullying was endemic. Their 20 recommendations for improvements in the NHS included a set of minimum safe staffing levels for consultants, doctors, nurses and other staff in hospital settings. They criticised a target driven culture, saying: "Quality care must become the primary influence on patient experience... and the primary indicator of performance."


References

{{authority control Hospitals in Aberdeen NHS Grampian Teaching hospitals in Scotland NHS Scotland hospitals Organisations based in Scotland with royal patronage 1737 establishments in Scotland Hospitals established in the 1730s