Popularly called the Athens of the North, Edinburgh was announced as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. It is the capital city of Scotland, lying on the east coast. When you hear ‘UNESCO World Heritage Site,’ what is the first thing that comes to your mind? The Edinburgh Castle, the heavy industries, and the dreamy scenic fairytale beauty of this place, right?
Edinburgh has undergone many changes and developments over centuries and is currently an absolute delight on the face of Earth. While it has some of the best tourist attractions, it is also one of the best places in the United Kingdom to get efficient healthcare.
The National Health Service in Scotland is popularly the most efficient compared to its neighbours, covering appointments with general practitioners and specialists, intensive care units, emergency services, drugs, eye tests and dental examinations.
1. The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Edinburgh Royal Infirmary)
Location: The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh is located at 51 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh, EH16 4SA, Scotland.
Affiliated University: University of Edinburgh Medical School.
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary has a 24-hour accident and emergency department. The visiting hours may vary. It is advisable to contact the hospital directly for specific visiting times.
1.1. History And Facts
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE), popularly known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (ERI), is Scotland’s first and oldest voluntary hospital.
1.1.1. Foundation And Inauguration
The new buildings added to this infrastructure in 1879 were recorded as the largest voluntary hospital campus in the United Kingdom. It was opened in 1729, has a long history of operation and is a renowned teaching hospital in the UK.
RIE shifted to a new 900-bed site in 2003, located in Little France, and became the location of the clinical medicine teaching hospital for the University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh Medical School)
In 1960, RIE created history by conducting the very first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom. In 2012, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh’s Emergency Department recorded a history of 113,000 patient attendances, the highest number to be recorded in Scotland.
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh was granted a Royal Charter from King George II in the year 1736, which thereby gave it the famous name of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
1.1.2. Renovations and Redesigning
William Adam was commissioned to design a new hospital infrastructure on a given site in the vicinity of the original building of the infirmary, which eventually gathered fame as the Infirmary Street. In 1741, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh moved the small distance to the incomplete building, which was eventually on its way to completion in 1745 and consisted of 228 beds compared to the humble four beds in the Little House.
The former Royal High School near High School Yards, built by Alexander Laing in 1777, was transformed into a surgical hospital.
Sadly, this arrangement was soon evaluated as insufficient, leading to the construction of a new surgical hospital, designed by David Bryce, on Lauriston Place. This infrastructure was inaugurated in 1853.
1.2. Services
The Royal Infirmary provides a range of professional medical and surgical services, including:
- Accident And Emergency Services
- Acute Medicine
- Cardiology And Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Gastroenterology
- General Surgery
- Laboratory Services
- Maternity Services
- Gynecology And Neonatal Units
- Medicine Of The Elderly
Specialized services like:
- Adult Cardiac Surgery
- Thoracic Surgery
- And, Paediatric Care
1.3. Achievements
In 1960, the first kidney transplant in the United Kingdom was performed by Sir Michael Woodruff in this hospital. In 2000, the first pancreas transplant was performed here. In 2008, Scotland’s first live donor liver transplant was performed by Murat Akyol and Ernest Hidalgo.
2. Royal Hospital for Children and Young People
Location: 50 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh bio Quarter, Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ.
Affiliated University: University of Edinburgh
2.1. Emergency Department
Royal Hospital for Children & Young People offers urgent care for conditions that are not directly life-threatening but still have a negative impact on the health of individuals aged between 0 and 15 years.
The Emergency Department is open 24 hours on all days of the year and provides high-quality emergency care for babies, children, and teenagers aged 12-15 years.
NHS 24 primarily offers advice, information, and support services.
All patients can make a phone call at 111. Services are available for patients 24/7 and can help them get quick and excellent treatment at all times.
2.2. Parking And Additional Services
The Children’s Emergency Department at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children And Young People has a dedicated entrance that can be found by following the signs from Gate 2. There is a service for short-stay drop-off points and turning circles, with free visitor car parking available around the campus.
Children with more severe or urgent conditions are prioritised and will be seen sooner than some of those patients who arrived earlier. There are provisions for toys, games, and television sets to help distract the ailing children and physically sick young people during waiting times.
3. St. John’s Hospital
Location: Howden Road West Howden, Livingston, West Lothian, EH54 6PP.
Affiliated University: University of Edinburgh Medical School
St. John’s Hospital is a modernized and excellent teaching and general hospital located in Scotland that provides a comprehensive and expanding range of services for the people of Lothian and beyond.
3.1. Speciality Services
Based in Livingston, the hospital provides its patients with a 24-hour Accident and Emergency department and a wide range of speciality services, including treatment for burns and plastic surgery.
This hospital in Edinburgh also provides efficient pediatric services that include:
- An acute receiving unit
- A pediatric ward
- A special baby unit
- And an excellent range of outpatient services.
St John’s Hospital houses the Short Stay Elective Surgical Centre, inaugurated in January 2011, which provides treatment to around 3,000 patients a year from across Lothian for day surgery.
This hospital in Edinburgh also houses Lothian’s specialist head and neck unit, the Hooper Hand Unit. It has an unwavering reputation for excellence in maternity services, delivering many babies at the hospital every year.
The labor suite and the special care baby unit at St John’s Hospital were renovated and upgraded in 2014.
3.2. Hospital Radio
Radio Grapevine is the hospital radio station for St John’s Hospital, West Lothian, broadcasting since 1992 as a registered charity.
Patients, family staff, and friends listen to this award-winning station dedicated to the purpose of patient entertainment online through the Radio Grapevine website.
Patients may have access to entertainment and programs through services like Radio Grapevine and digital therapy systems like RITA. They are also provided with the service to request a program 7 nights per week through their bedside units, rooms, or online.
3.3. Transport
The SJH Edinburg hospital has good proximity to train stations, bus stops, and the availability of other public transport routes is also pretty good.
The hospital is located 1.5 miles from the Livingston North train station, which provides transport links to:
- Bathgate
- Edinburgh
- Airdrie
- And Glasgow via the Airdrie-Bathgate line.
The the parking charges here were abolished on 31 December 2008.
3.4. Services
St John’s Hospital provides patients with a wide range of services, including:
- Accident and Emergency Help
- Burn Treatment
- Ear, Nose, and Throat services
- Endocrinology
- General Medicine
- Laboratory Services
- Maxillofacial Surgery
- Obstetrics
- Pediatrics
- Plastic Surgery, etc.
4. Western General Hospital
Location: Crewe Road South, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU.
Affiliated University: University of Edinburgh Medical School.
The Western General Hospital provides its patients from Scotland and Lothian with an all-inclusive range of general and specialty services.
4.1. History And Facts
The main building of the Western General Hospital originated as the Craigleith Poorhouse and Hospital in 1868.
The Western General Hospital underwent various transformations and developments over the years, culminating in its current form as a major teaching hospital and center of expertise.
Scotland’s first Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre was inaugurated on the Western General Hospital campus in 1996.
The hospital has approximately 570 beds (including day beds). It houses the regional centers for:
- The treatments for cancer
- Clinical neuroscience
- The Regional Infectious Diseases Unit
- And the award-winning Minor Injuries Clinic, which is led by a team of efficient nurses.
The hospital staff treat more than 20,000 patients yearly for a broad range of minor injuries and physical ailments.
The clinic is open daily, and patients must call 111 to make an appointment with an MIU expert for treatment or diagnosis.
4.2. Buildings and Infrastructure
The buildings housing the units in the hospital include:
Peter Womersley opened the Nuffield Transplantation Surgery Unit at the Western General Hospital in 1968.
Basil Spence is known for his architectural contributions to the Western General Hospital.
The Royal Victoria Building is a purpose-built clinical facility that forms part of the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. It houses wards for the care of the following:
- Elderly patients
- Rheumatology and dermatology patients
- And those requiring orthopedic rehabilitation
4.3. Services
The Western General provides patients with a wide range of services, including:
- Colorectal Surgery
- Acute Medicine
- Breast Surgery
- Cancer And Clinical Neuroscience
- Infectious Diseases Unit
- Minor Injuries Clinic
- Gastroenterology
- General Medicine
- Hematology
- Laboratories
- Medicine For The Elderly
- Oncology
- Specialist Palliative Care Teams
- Renal Dialysis
- Stroke Medicine
- Urology
- Other General And Specialist Services
5. The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion
Location: Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9HA.
The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion is part of NHS Lothian’s University Hospitals Division.
The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion (PAEP) is dedicated to providing specialist care for treating and regulating diseases or ailing conditions affecting the eye and eyesight of an individual.
5.1. Facilities
The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion (PAEP) has an in-patient ward, along with:
- 2 Day-Care Wards
- 3 Intraocular Operating Theatres
- Extraocular Surgery And Procedure Facilities
- Outpatient Clinics
- Acute Referral Clinic For Emergency Treatment
5.2. History and Infrastructure
The current building designed by Alison & Hutchison formed part of the first segment of the redevelopment of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh between 1965 and 1969.
The departments present at the Moray Pavilion and the Eye, Ear, and Throat Infirmary were merged at this new site.
The building was called the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in honor of Princess Alexandra, who officially inaugurated the hospital on October 1, 1969.
In 2005, Gordon Brown became the patron of a center of excellence within the Eye Pavilion.
Brown had received treatment at the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion himself in the 1970s to cure a detached retina of his right eye after a game of rugby.
5.3. Services
This hospital in Edinburg provides services like—
- Acute Referral Clinic
- Ophthalmology
- Ocular Prosthetics
- Specialized Eye Care Services
6. Spire Edinburgh Hospitals
Location: 122 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 6UD.
Spire Edinburgh Hospitals is a part of the Spire Healthcare group. It has been caring for patients since 1984.
6.1. History and Facts
Spire Healthcare was the second-largest private hospital group in the UK, operating 39 hospitals and 33 clinics, medical centres, and consulting rooms across England, Wales, and Scotland. It also operates the London Fertility Centre.
6.2. Specialty Treatments
The Spire Edinburgh Hospitals provide the following services at their branch in Edinburgh, including :
- Blood Tests
- Management And Treatment Of Bone And Joint Conditions
- Bowel Investigations And Treatments
- Cancer Investigations And Treatments
- Cosmetic Surgery,
- Ear, Nose, And Throat (Ent) Treatments
- Eye Surgery And Treatments
- Gastroenterology
- General Surgery
- Hand Surgery
- Heart Treatments
- Hip And Knee Disorders
- Men’s Health
- Women’s Health
- Paediatrics (Children’s Health)
- Respiratory Medicine, Scans And Investigations
- Skin Treatments
- Urology
- Vascular Problems
- Weight Loss Surgery
6.3. Other Services
Spire Edinburgh Hospitals also offers a wide range of specialist treatments for back, neck, and spine problems, including surgery for:
- Spinal Stenosis
- A Slipped Or Herniated Disc, And Scoliosis.
This group of hospitals in Edinburgh also publishes several performance measures, including:
- MRSA Blood Infections
- Clostridium Difficile
- Returns To Theatre
- And, Unplanned Readmission
Spire Edinburgh Hospitals offers various payment options for treatment and aftercare, including:
- Self-Payment
- Private Health Insurance
- Finance Options
- Medical Loans
6.4. Awards
In 2008, Spire Healthcare was awarded the Independent Healthcare Award for Best Healthcare Outcomes.
It won the prestigious Nursing Practice Award in two consecutive years, 2009 and 2010, for its brilliant approach to infection prevention and control.
7. Chalmers Hospital
Location: 2a Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9HQ
The Chalmer’s Hospital, located in the centre of Edinburgh, is a sexual health care hospital. It is the centre from where NHS Lothian’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Services currently operate.
7.1. History And Foundation
Chalmers Hospital joined the National Health Service as a general hospital in 1948 but was later changed into a sexual health centre in 2011.
In 1951, the Hospital for Diseases of Women amalgamated with Chalmers, becoming its annexe.
7.2. Services
Chalmer’s Hospital provides the following services:
- Contraception(Advice And Supplies)
- Emergency Contraception
- Free Condoms
- STI Testing And Treatment
- Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)
- Pregnancy Testing
- Referral For Termination Of Pregnancy
- Menopause
- Premenstrual Syndrome
- Gay Men’s Clinics
- Colposcopy
Chalmers Hospital has drop-in clinics for young people aged 13-18 and GB+ clinics, which cater to specific age groups and needs like advice on sexual problems and support following sexual assault.
8. In the End
Scotland has seen excellent advancement, not only in the cultural and technological field but also in the field of health and medicine.
Scotland’s hospitals provide a wide range of healthcare services under the auspices of the National Health Service(NHS). They are managed by health boards and operate within the framework of the NHS, and are supported by various NHS entities like NHS Lothian and Health Facilities Scotland.
Last Updated on July 11, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty
