St Michael's Hospital, Linlithgow was a

community hospital A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public, and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, i ...

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt o ...

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 th ...

, operated 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 ...

History

The hospital had its origins in the Linlithgow Combination Poorhouse and Infirmary which opened on the site in 1856. An infectious diseases hospital was built on an adjacent site in around 1900. The poorhouse infirmary and the infectious diseases hospital came together to form St Michael's Home and Hospital in 1932. The combined 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 poorhouse building was demolished in 1969 and replaced with the most recent facility.

Closure

During the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic the hospital was temporarily closed, primarily due to a nursing shortage. In June 2022 it was decided by the NHS Lothian health board that the site should be permanently closed, with a final decision pending public consultation.

References

Hospitals in West Lothian Linlithgow NHS Scotland hospitals {{UK-hospital-stub