The Deaconess Hospital, Edinburgh, opened in 1894 and was the first establishment of its kind in the UK, maintained and wholly funded as it was by the Reformed Church. Through its 96-year lifetime it changed and evolved to time and circumstance. It was a school: for the training of nurses and deaconesses who took their practical skills all over the world. It was a sanctum: for the sick-poor before the NHS. It was a subsidiary: for the bigger hospitals of Edinburgh after amalgamation into the NHS. It was a specialised centre: as the Urology Department in Edinburgh and the Scottish Lithotripter centre. And now it is currently student accommodation. There is no single source to account for its history. Through the use of original material made available by the Lothian Health Services Archives - including Church of Scotland publications, patient records, a doctor's casebook and annual reports - we review its conception, purpose, development and running; its fate on joining the NHS, its identity in the latter years and finally its closure.
The Jubilee of the Church of Scotland – Deaconess Hospital; 1944. C.J. Cousland & Sons Ltd. Edinburgh [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/13/3/9].
BurleighJ. A Church History of Scotland. Oxford; OUP. 1960.
4.
BrownC. Religion and Society in Scotland since 1707. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 1997.
5.
Church of Scotland Committee on Christian Life and Work 1907. In: Organisation of Women's Work; 1907 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/13/1/2].
DuncumB. The Development of Hospital Design and Planning. In: PoynterFNL. The Evolution of Hospitals in Britain. London: Pitman Medical Pub. Co; 1964. p.207–29.
MillarJAS. Appeal for &pond;25,000 for reconstruction and extension. In: Life and Work; June 1934 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/13/3/2].
12.
NewmanC. The Hospital as Teaching Centre. In: PoynterFNL. The Evolution of Hospitals in Britain. London: Pitman Medical Pub. Co; 1964. p.187–205.
13.
TrailRR. The History of Hospital Finance and Administration. In: PoynterFNL. The Evolution of Hospitals in Britain. London: Pitman Medical Pub. Co; 1964. p.231–43.
14.
SimpsonHM. The Influence of Professional Nursing on the Development of the Modern Hospital. In: PoynterFNL. The Evolution of Hospitals in Britain. London: Pitman Medical Pub. Co; 1964. p.245–53.
15.
ComrieJD. Black's Medical Dictionary. London: Black; 1942.
16.
ComrieJD. History of Scottish Medicine to 1860. London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox; 1927.
Admissions Book 1894 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/29/1].
19.
Patient records 1894–1919 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/28/1]
20.
BoydF. Casebook of Dr. Boyd – Deaconess Hospital; 1897–1912 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/34/8].
21.
Annual Report 1946 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB12/12/52].
22.
BuzzardE, JewesburyR. The Oxford University Appeal. BMJ1937; 1:1043.
23.
Board of Management of the Edinburgh Southern Hospital Group Minutes; 17th June 1948–1949. 1949 [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB9/1/1].
24.
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Annual Report 1989–1990. Spectrum Printing Company Limited, Livingston [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB42/7/2].
25.
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Annual Report 1990–1991. Publishers: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Printed: Metro Press, Edinburgh [Courtesy of Lothian Health Service Archive LHB42/7/3].
