Ninewells Hospital

Ninewells Hospital
NHS Tayside
Ninewells Hospital
Geography
Location	Dundee, Tayside, Scotland
Organisation
Care system	NHS Scotland
Hospital type	Teaching
Affiliated university	University of Dundee Abertay University
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	862
History
Founded	1974
Links
Website	www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/GoingToHospital/OurPremisesA-Z/NinewellsHospital/index.htm
Lists	Hospitals in Scotland

Ninewells Hospital is a large teaching hospital, based on the western edge of Dundee, Scotland. It is internationally renowned for introducing laparoscopic surgery to the UK as well as being a leading centre in developing fields such as the management of cancer, medical genetics and robotic surgery. Within the UK, it is also a major NHS facility for psychosurgery. The medical school was ranked 1st in the UK in 2009. The hospital is administered under NHS Tayside and also has nursing and research links with the University of Dundee.

The proposal for the new hospital was put forward in May 1960 and final permission was accepted by Parliament in February 1962. The first phase of the project was due to take 6 years at a cost of £9 million. Designed by Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall and partners, the protracted construction began in August 1964. The hospital was initially designed to hold 800 beds, and the ward units were planned on the 'race track' principle. The foundation stone was laid on 9 September 1965, by Baron Hughes of Hawkhill. The infirmary was built onto the side of a hill and the practicalities of the design were influenced by airport check in. Phase I of the building was completed in 1973, although some sections were not finished until 1975. The final cost was estimated as £25 million. Hospital admittances started on 31 January 1974 and the hospital was officially opened by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 23 October 1974. At the opening ceremony, she stated "nothing that science can devise, nor money provide, will be lacking for the treatment of the patients".

By 1986 the hospital employed over 5,000 people and had 830 beds over 39 wards. At that time, the total annual cost of patient care was said to be £22 million.

The opening of Ninewells had a major impact upon Dundee's existing hospitals. Dundee Royal Infirmary, opened in 1798, moving to larger premises in the 1850s, had been Dundee's main hospital until the opening of Ninewells. From 1974 many of its functions and responsibilities were transferred to Ninewells and the infirmary ultimately closed in 1998.Maryfield Hospital, which had formerly been the East Poorhouse, was closed to patients in stages between 1974 and 1976 as a result of Ninewells opening. In the 1990s and 2000s many functions of the city's King's Cross Hospital were also transferred to Ninewells. In 2001 a new psychiatric unit opened in the grounds of the hospital taking over some of the functions of Royal Dundee Liff Hospital.