Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is the largest hospital in the
Grampian
Grampian () was one of nine local government regions of Scotland. It was created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and took its name from the Grampian Mountains. The regional council was based in Aberdeen.
The region was abol ...
area, located on the
Foresterhill site in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
, Scotland. ARI is a
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...
with around 900 inpatient beds, offering
tertiary care
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance 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 delive ...
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.
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, 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 ...
had been due to open the infirmary but he called off his visit and instead went to
Ballater railway station to meet
Wallis Simpson
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer and then Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986) was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII). Their intentio ...
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 term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
in 1948.[
In 1984, a hyperbaric oxygen unit was built for the treatment of decompression illness] and the hospital's in vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...
unit achieved 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 surgery or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa. Eye surgery is part of ophthalmology and is performed by an ophthalmologist or eye surgeon. The eye is a fragile organ, and requires ...
,[ 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 world's first whole-body MRI scanner was used for diagnostic imaging between 1980 and 1983. The prototype machine, Mark One was put on display in the hospital's art gallery, the Suttie Arts Space, in February 2016. 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
John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...
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 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 River Don, Aberdeenshire, Don, about north-west of Aberdeen.
Geography ...
and Oldmeldrum
Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and Civil parish, parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region), North East Scotland. With a population of ...
in the north, Inverness
Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
in the West and Cove Bay 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 (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
's medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...
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 generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...
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/ cute appearances, inte ...
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 scandals in the health service in 2013 and 2014 leading to concerns about patient safety and care at the infirmary. They found leadership and accountability were often lacking and bullying was endemic. The 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