Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) is the largest hospital in the
Grampian area, located on 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 m ...
site 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), a ...
, Scotland. ARI is a
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
with around 900 inpatient beds, offering
tertiary care 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
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 University o ...
, 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 had been due to open the infirmary but he called off his visit and instead went to
Ballater railway station
Ballater railway station is a former station in the village of Ballater in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The station was formerly the terminus of a branch line from Aberdeen.
It was the nearest station to Balmoral Castle, a personal residence of the ...
to meet
Wallis Simpson
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...
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 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.[
In 1984, a hyperbaric oxygen unit was built for the treatment of ]decompression illness
Decompression Illness (DCI) comprises two different conditions caused by rapid decompression of the body. These conditions present similar symptoms and require the same initial first aid. Scuba divers are trained to ascend slowly from depth to av ...
and the hospital's test-tube baby
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) fr ...
unit achieving 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,][ 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 physics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) concerns fundamental physical considerations of MRI techniques and technological aspects of MRI devices. MRI is a medical imaging technique mostly used in radiology and nuclear medicine in order ...
. The world's first whole-body MRI scanner was used for diagnostic imaging between 1980 and 1983. The prototype machine, Mark One is now on display in the hospital's Art Gallery, The Suttie Arts Space. 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 Deputy First Minister of Scotland since 2014 and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery since 2021. He was the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from ...
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 and Oldmeldrum in the north, Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histor ...
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
, mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research universityAncient university
, endowment = £58.4 million (2021)
, budget ...
's medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, ...
and there has been pioneering research in many fields, including the development of MRI and PET 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 produced a report entitled “Learning from serious failings in care” in July 2015. The investigation was launched after recent scandals in the health service among which were concerns about patient safety and care at the Infirmary. They found leadership and accountability were often lacking and bullying was endemic. Their 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