Eye Ear and Throat Infirmary of Edinburgh

Scope and Content

Managers' minutes 1914-1947; annual report 1946-1947; miscellaneous 1938

Administrative / Biographical History

The Eye Infirmary of Edinburgh was founded in 1834. In 1883 departments for ear, nose and throat cases were added and the name changed to the Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary of Edinburgh. It 1922 it was amalgamated with the Eye Dispensary which had been founded in 1822. Both institutions were located in Cambridge Street. In 1948 it became part of the Board of Management of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals. It ceased to provide in-patient services a year later and thereafter housed an orthoptic clinic, and artificial eye centre and the school eye service. These services were transferred to the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion when it opened in 1969.

Arrangement

Chronological within record class

Access Information

Public access to these records is governed by the UK Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the latest version of the Scottish Government Records Management: NHS Code of Practice (Scotland). Whilst some records may be accessed freely by researchers, the aforementioned legislation and guidelines mean that records with sensitive information on named individuals may be closed to the public for a set time.

Where records are about named deceased adults, they will be open 75 years after the latest date in the record, on the next 01 January. Records about individuals below 18 years (living or deceased) or adults not proven to be deceased will be open 100 years after the latest date in the record, on the next 01 January. Further information on legislation and guidelines covering medical records can be found on the LHSA webpage (http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/).

LHSA can support the use of records closed to public access for legitimate clinical, historical and genealogical research purposes. Please contact the LHSA Archivist for more details regarding procedures on how you can apply for permission to view closed records. Telephone us on: 0131 650 3392 or email us at lhsa@ed.ac.uk

Acquisition Information

Accessioned pre-1980, no details available

Note

Compiled by Mike Barfoot and Jenny McDermott using existing handlists

Other Finding Aids

Manual item-level descriptive list available

Custodial History

Records held within the National Health Service prior to transfer

Accruals

No further accessions are expected

Related Material

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (LHB1)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Board of Management (LHB2).