The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion is a specialist eye treatment centre in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. 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, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian areas. Its headquarters are at Waverley Gate, Edinburgh Services It is responsible for the ...

. It provides ophthalmic care for Edinburgh and the Lothians, and tertiary care for South East Scotland.

History

The Eye Dispensary for Edinburgh was founded in 1822 on the Lawnmarket. One of the founders was

John Argyll Robertson Dr John Argyll Robertson FRSE PRCSE (12 August 1800 – 7 January 1855) was a Scottish surgeon who specialised in ophthalmic surgery and became President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1848. Early life John Argyll Robertson w ...

, whose son

Douglas Argyll Robertson Douglas Moray Cooper Lamb Argyll Robertson FRSE, FRCSEd LLD (1837 – 3 January 1909) was a Scottish ophthalmologist and surgeon. He introduced physostigmine into ophthalmic practice and the Argyll Robertson pupil is named after him. He was p ...

would later work on the eye ward at the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

. In 1834 a separate Eye Infirmary was founded. Departments for Ear, Nose and Throat were subsequently added in 1883 to form the Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary of Edinburgh. In 1922 the Infirmary and Dispensary amalgamated to combined premises on Cambridge Street. In 1853 a new surgical hospital was built between the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on Infirmary Street and Surgeon’s Hall, containing 19 beds for eye patients. The eye facilities were moved to the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on Lauriston Place in 1870, and were expanded and moved to the purpose-built Moray Pavilion in 1903. This housed 44 beds and separate operating theatres, along with a substantial outpatient department on the ground floor. The current building, which was designed by Alison & Hutchison, formed part of the first phase of the intended re-development of the

and was built between 1965 and 1969. The departments at the Moray Pavilion and the Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary were amalgamated at the new site. The building was named the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in honour of Princess Alexandra, who officially opened the hospital on 1 October 1969. In 2005, then-

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

became the patron of a centre of excellence within the Eye Pavilion. Brown had received treatment there himself in the 1970s after suffering a detached retina of his right eye in a game of rugby. NHS Lothian announced in July 2018 that a full business case would be developed with a view to moving the eye department to new premises at the BioQuarter campus adjacent to the current Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh site at

Little France Little France is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is on the A7 road (Great Britain), A7, approximately south of the city centre. The area falls within the parish of Liberton, Edinburgh, Liberton in the south-east of the city. ...

Services

The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion specialises in treatment and care of conditions affecting the eye. The hospital contains one in-patient ward, two day wards, three intraocular operating theatres, extraocular surgery and procedure facilities, outpatient clinics and an acute referral clinic for emergency treatment.

Notes

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1969 Hospitals in Edinburgh NHS Scotland hospitals Eye hospitals in the United Kingdom NHS Lothian