Aberdeen Maternity Hospital (AMH) is a specialist
maternity hospital
A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most o ...
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. Between 4,000 and 5,000 babies are born at AMH each year. The hospital is located in 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 ...
area of Aberdeen and serves the region of
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 ...
as well as the islands of
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
and
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
. 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 its origins in the a small facility established at Guestrow in 1870.
It moved to Barrett's Close in 1893 and to Castle Street in 1900.
[
The move to a new building, which was designed by James Brown Nicol]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.[ An ante-natal hospital was added in 1941][ and the facility 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.[ The hospital progressed to stage two accreditation of the ]Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), also known as Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI), is a worldwide programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), launched in 1992 in India UNICEFThe Baby- ...
in July 2011.
Construction of new hospital buildings - for The Baird Family Hospital and Anchor cancer centre - was delayed after costs escalated from £163m to £223m. In February 2020, forecast completion dates were 2022 and March 2023 respectively.
Services
The Department of Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and Gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
, 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 ...
, is based at the hospital, which conducts a variety of research with an emphasis on obstetric epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
(including maternal mortality
Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality.
Mortality may also refer to:
* Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...
and morbidity
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
), infertility
Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects). It is the normal state ...
and the prevention of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
in women. Aberdeen is also particularly known for its research into multiple pregnancy
A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such bir ...
. The associated Dugald Baird Centre for Research on Women's Health was set up in 1995 and is primarily a research unit, with consultative and teaching responsibilities. Current work focuses on a number of themes in reproductive health research and methodological development in evaluation. The centre is named after Sir Dugald Baird
Sir Dugald Baird Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, FRCOG (16 November 1899 – 7 November 1986) was a British medical doctor and a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology. Baird was most notable and influential in calling for th ...
(1899–1986), Regius Professor
A Regius Professor
is a university Professor (highest academic rank), professor who has, or originally had, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Republic ...
of Midwifery
Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...
at the University of Aberdeen from 1937 to 1965.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Aberdeen Maternity HospitalDugald Baird Centre
{{authority control
Maternity Hospital
A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most o ...
NHS Grampian
Teaching hospitals in Scotland
NHS Scotland hospitals
Maternity hospitals in the United Kingdom
1940s establishments in Scotland
Hospitals established in the 1940s