The Western General Hospital (often abbreviated to simply ‘The Western General’) is a health facility at Craigleith, Edinburgh,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is managed by

NHS Lothian NHS Lothian is one of the 14 regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in the City of Edinburgh (council area), City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian council areas. Its headquarters are at Mainpoint 102 West ...

History

The hospital was designed by Peddie and Kinnear and opened as the St. Cuthberts and Canongate Poorhouse in 1868, principally as a workhouse but also having some hospital functions. It was later renamed Craigleith Poorhouse. In 1915, during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the building was requisitioned by the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

to create the 2nd Scottish General Hospital, a facility for the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

to treat military casualties. After returning to poorhouse use in 1920 it was converted fully to hospital use in 1927. A nurses' home was added in 1935 and a pathology block was completed in 1939. It 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 and a new library was completed in 1979. The first Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre opened on the Western General Hospital site in 1996. In June 2012 the Medicine for the Elderly services were transferred from the Royal Victoria Hospital to a new purpose-built facility known as the Royal Victoria Building at the Western General Hospital. A facility to treat young people with cancer aged 16 to 24 was opened in the Western General Hospital in December 2013.

Notable nursing staff

Matrons of the Western General Hospital include: 1929–1951 Theresa Allan 1951 –1964 Estelle Adamson, OBE 1964–1972 Margaret Nimmo 1972–1974 Elizabeth Edwards 1974–1976 J.L.P. Robertson 1977–1987 Elizabeth McLean 1987– Alexandra Harvey During Allan’s time as

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in a hospital in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge ...

the Western General Hospital was recognised as a nurse training school in 1931. She was one of the first matrons to introduce a Preliminary Training School for nurses and the block system of training. She was also behind the introduction of the training of male nurses at the Western. Allan was awarded the Polish Gold Cross for her services to the Paderewski Hospital (Polish) when it formed part of the Western General Hospital during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. This existed for six years and received over 7,000 polish service men and civilians as in patients and was the training school for the Polish Faculty of Medicine established at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

Buildings

Buildings include: *Nuffield Transplant Unit by Peter Womersley, 1955 – distinctive modernist architecture and pedestrian bridge over the south access road *A range of functional buildings from the 1950s (including surgical theatres) by Basil Spence *Nurses Home by City Architect ( Ebenezer MacRae) 1935 *Pathology Department by City Architect ( Ebenezer MacRae) 1939 *Royal Victoria Building. The RVB was built primarily as a replacement for the Royal Victoria Hospital, a Medicine of the Older Adult assessment and rehabilitation Unit.

Services

The hospital has over 700 beds including day beds. Although the Western no longer has an Accident and Emergency department, a nurse-led minor injuries unit has been operating on the site since 1994. The hospital served as a base for the

neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

and

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...

centre for south east Scotland ("Department of Clinical

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

s") until the department moved to the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Comi ...

at Little France in 2020. There is a major national

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

research and treatment centre at the hospital which was refurbished in 2007.

References

External links

*
Western General Hospital
Official site {{authority control NHS Scotland hospitals Teaching hospitals in Scotland Hospitals in Edinburgh 1868 establishments in Scotland Hospitals established in 1868 University of Edinburgh NHS Lothian