Glasgow Royal Infirmary

Etching of a view of the infirmary by James Fittler in Scotia Depicta, published 1804

The New Buildings (post-1974) at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, viewed from the Necropolis. The Queen Elizabeth Building, completed in 1981, is in the foreground. The newer Princess Royal Maternity Hospital, opened in 2001, is just behind and to the right. The University Teaching Block is on the left hand side, adjoining the 1981 building.

A Royal Charter was obtained in 1791 granting the Crown-owned land to the hospital. The infirmary was built beside Glasgow Cathedral on land that held the ruins of the Bishop's Castle, which dated from at least the 13th century but had been allowed to fall into disrepair. George Jardine, Professor of Logic, was appointed the first manager in January 1793.[4]

Designed by Robert and James Adam, the original Royal Infirmary building was opened in December 1794.[4] The original Adams building had five floors (one underground) holding eight wards (giving the hospital just over a hundred beds) and a circular operating room on the fourth floor with a glazed dome ceiling. After a number of additional buildings were added, the first in 1816, a specialist fever block in 1829 and a surgical block in 1860.[5]

St Mungo's College Medical School was set up in 1876 by the medical teachers of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, after the university had migrated westwards and set up the new Western Infirmary for clinical teaching. At first their students could not take the university examinations. St Mungo's College also had a non-university law school, which prepared accountants and law agents but not advocates.[6] In 1947 it was absorbed into the University of Glasgow's Faculty of Medicine.[7]

Rebecca Strong OBE (1843-1944) is regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of nurse education. In 1879 she was appointed Matron at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. There was no organised teaching for nurses anywhere until 1893, when Strong opened a Preliminary Training School for Nurses at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. With the support of Glasgow surgeon Sir William Macewen, Strong initiated the ‘block apprenticeship’ training programme. This consisted of short periods of instruction in the hospital school followed by periods of practice on the wards. This was a great improvement on previous nurse instruction whereby nurses were expected to attend lectures and study while still working long hours on the wards.[8]

Two courses were arranged in conjunction with the Professors of St. Mungo's College - a three months' course focused on elementary Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene. On passing examinations in these subjects a second course was given which consisted of Medicine, Surgery and Practical Nursing. The prospective nurse was then able to enter the Hospital with this theoretical knowledge.[9] Strong retired in 1907. Over the course of her career at the GRI she fought to improve the conditions for nurses and elevated nursing to the status of a profession.[10]

In 1956 an experimental nurse training programme was introduced at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The motivation for this course was to address issues around attracting students to nursing, reducing student attrition rates, improving patient care and increasing the number of trained staff.[11][12]

The original Adams building was replaced with a new building designed by James Miller and opened by King George V in July 1914.[13] In 1926, the surgical block in which Joseph Lister had worked was also torn down for replacement.[14]

Following the amalgamation of the old St. Mungo's College of Medicine into the University of Glasgow Medical School in 1947, the old College buildings on Castle Street officially became part of the hospital campus. In 1948 the hospital became part of NHS Scotland.[15]

Visions of a brand new hospital on the site had been part of the Bruce Report as early as the late 1940s, but by 1974, the Greater Glasgow Health Board had formally begun plans for the replacement of the 1914 Miller buildings with a brand new building. This would be located on the north of the hospital site overlooking Alexandra Parade and the M8 motorway. The new building was designed by Sir Basil Spence in a "modular" fashion, where new blocks could be easily added in phases as funding allowed. In the end, only the first phase of Spence's original design was implemented and was finally completed around 1982. It also incorporated new accommodation for the hospital's teaching departments, thus replacing the old St. Mungo's College buildings. The new complex was linked to the Surgical Block of the original Royal Infirmary building at basement level via a link corridor, with a further pedestrian entrance at lower basement level on Wishart Street (adjacent to the Necropolis). The new facility was officially named the "Queen Elizabeth Building" by the Queen on a visit in July 1986.[16] Since 1982 the pre-1915 buildings of the Infirmary have been protected as a category B listed building.[17]

The south face of the Medical Block of the Glasgow Royal as seen from High Street

After the closure of the Rutherglen Maternity Hospital and the old Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital at Rottenrow, a new maternity block was added to the New Building; the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital opened in 2001.[18] Following the closure of Canniesburn Hospital, the Jubilee Building was opened, adding purpose-built Accident & Emergency facilities and a plastic surgery unit, in November 2002.[19]

Following the transfer of the Golden Jubilee Hospital (formerly the HCI Hospital) in Clydebank to public ownership, much of the cardiology specialism was moved from GRI to the newer facility.[20]