Western General Hospital

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.Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker It was later renamed Craigleith Poorhouse.{{cite web |url=http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/OurOrganisation/AboutUs/OurHistory/Pages/WGHHistory.aspx |title=Western General Hospital History |publisher=NHS Lothian|date=1 June 2011 |access-date=9 June 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://historic-hospitals.com/gazetteer/edinburgh/|title=Western General Hospital|publisher=Historic Hospitals|access-date=20 January 2019}} In 1915, during the First World War, the building was requisitioned by the War Office to create the 2nd Scottish General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.{{cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/f45de3d7-21dd-36f3-9192-3312f6c09bf1|title=Second Scottish General Hospital Craigleith|publisher=Archives Hub|access-date=27 July 2019}} 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 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.maggiescentres.org/our-centres/maggies-edinburgh/ |title= Maggie's Edinburgh |access-date=9 June 2014}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/GoingToHospital/Locations/WGH/RVB/Pages/default.aspx |title=Royal Victoria Building |publisher=NHS Lothian |date=9 June 2013 |access-date=9 June 2014}}

A facility to treat young people with cancer aged 16 to 24 was opened in the Western General Hospital in December 2013.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-25448035 |title= Duchess opens £1.35m cancer centre in Edinburgh |work=BBC News |date=19 December 2013 |access-date=13 June 2014}}

Matrons of the Western General Hospital include:{{Cite book |last=Eastwood M, Jenkinson A. |title=A history of the Western General Hospital Edinburgh |publisher=John Donald Publishers Limited |year=1995}}

1929–1951{{Cite journal |date=30 June 1951 |title=About ourselves |journal=Nursing Times |volume=47 |pages=650}} Theresa Allan

1951{{Cite journal |date=16 June 1951 |title=Topical Notes |journal=Nursing Times |volume=47 |pages=582}} –1964 Estelle Adamson, OBE{{Cite journal |date=8 June 1962 |title=News and Comment |journal=Nursing Times |volume=58 |pages=726}}

1964–1972  Margaret Nimmo{{Cite journal |date=4 June 1965 |title=Appointments |journal=Nursing Times |pages=785}}

1972–1974 Elizabeth Edwards

1974–1976 J.L.P. Robertson

1977–1987 Elizabeth McLean

1987– Alexandra Harvey

During Allan’s time as matron 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. 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.{{Cite journal |date=30 June 1951 |title=About Ourselves |journal=Nursing Times |volume=47 |pages=650}}

Buildings include:Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker

• 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.

The hospital has over 700 beds including day beds.{{cite web |url=http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/GoingToHospital/Locations/WGH/Pages/default.aspx |title= Western General Hospital (WGH) |publisher=NHS Lothian |date=22 January 2014 |access-date=9 June 2014}} 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.{{cite news |url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/minor-injuries-clinic-is-major-asset-to-capital-1-1226010 |title=Minor injuries clinic is major asset to Capital |work=The Scotsman |date=15 December 2009|access-date=20 January 2019}}

The hospital served as a base for the neurology and neurosurgery centre for south east Scotland ("Department of Clinical Neurosciences") {{cite web|url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-brain-sciences/news/news-archive/news-jul-dec-2018/celebrating-dcn-at-wgh|title=Celebrating the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Western General Hospital|date=1 December 2018|publisher=University of Edinburgh|access-date=20 January 2019}} until the department moved to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at Little France in 2020.{{Cite web|title=NHS Lothian celebrates the start of an exciting new chapter in the history of neuroscience in Edinburgh and the Lothians|url=https://news.nhslothian.scot/Pages/20200712_NHS-Lothian-celebrates-the-start-of-an-exciting-new-chapter-in-the-history-of-neuroscience-in-Edinburgh-and-the-Lo.aspx|access-date=2020-07-20|website=NHS Lothian}}

There is a major national cancer research and treatment centre at the hospital which was refurbished in 2007.{{cite web |url=http://aitken-turnbull.co.uk/projects/health/chemotherapy-and-trials-suite/ |title= Chemotherapy and trials suite |publisher=Aitken Turnbull |access-date=13 June 2014}}

{{reflist}}

• {{commons category-inline|Western General Hospital, Edinburgh}}
• [http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/GoingToHospital/Locations/WGH/Pages/default.aspx Western General Hospital] Official site

{{University of Edinburgh}}

{{Hospitals in NHS Lothian}}

{{Health and care facilities in Edinburgh}}

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Category:NHS Scotland hospitals

Category:Teaching hospitals in Scotland

Category:Hospitals in Edinburgh

Category:1868 establishments in Scotland

Category:Hospitals established in 1868

Category:University of Edinburgh

Category:NHS Lothian