Ellen's Glen House is a community-based

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

which was built to provide services to elderly and mentally ill patients in

Liberton, Edinburgh Liberton is a suburb of Edinburgh the capital of Scotland. It is in the south of the city, south of The Inch, east of the Braid Hills and west of Moredun. Liberton Community council's area includes Liberton, Gracemount, Kaimes, Alnwic ...

, Scotland. 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 (council area), City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian council areas. Its headquarters are at Mainpoint 102 West ...

. In 2025, as result of the closure of the neighbouring Liberton Hospital, it is planned to move the hospital at home service and the medical day hospital from Liberton to Ellen's Glen. As a consequence mental health patients have been moved elsewhere and the number of frail elderly inpatient beds is being reduced from 27 to nine.

History

The hospital has its origins in Southfield House, a building situated near Ellen's Glen nature reserve, which was designed by John Chesser in the

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

. It opened as a

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

sanatorium in 1875 and became part of the Royal Victoria Hospital in the 1920s. Plans of the original house, and later alterations by Dick, Peddie and MacKay, are held by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

and viewed via trove.scot. A new hospital, which was commissioned to replace the Southfield House facility, was procured under a

Private Finance Initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1992 ...

contract in February 1999. It was built by James Walker (Leith) Limited just to the north of Southfield House at a cost of £2.65 million and opened as Ellen's Glen House from January 2000.

Services

The hospital provided services to elderly and mentally ill patients in a two-floor building with 60 staffed beds set in extensive accessible gardens. The services included frail adult complex clinical care and palliative care; according to inspection reports stays range from a few weeks to a number of years. As neighbouring Liberton Hospital is to close in 2025, the Hospital at Home and Medical Day hospital is being relocated to Ellen's Glen Hospital. There is a planned reduction in frail elderly inpatient bed numbers from 27 to nine. Frail elderly Hawthorn ward patients are to be transitioned to community settings (hospices, care homes and their own homes) in line with the strategic vision for health and social care. Thistle ward psychiatric patients have been moved to other Lothian NHS complex clinical care facilities.

References

{{Authority control 1999 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures completed in 1999 Hospitals in Edinburgh NHS Lothian NHS Scotland hospitals Palliative care in Scotland Psychiatric hospitals in Scotland