Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Unit

Hospital Management Group/Unit Management Team Meetings 1984-1992; Unit Management Team Meetings 1987-1990; Site Control Group Minutes 1986-1987; Medical Executive Committee Minutes 1983-1992; General Management Group/Team, Lothian Health Board Minutes 1986-1991; Unit General Managers and Lothian Health Board Director of Operations Minutes 1991-1992; Annual Reports 1974-1994; RIE and Associated Hospitals Information / Newsletter 1984-1994

In late 1983 instructions were issued to abolish the district level of management in the Scottish National Health Service. Following on from the recommendations of the Griffiths Report, unit-based management was introduced. Unit general managers were appointed who, in turn, reported to general managers at board level.

These changes were adopted at the hospital, which, following the abolition of South Lothian District of Lothian Health Board, became the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Unit. Staff and committee titles and functions were gradually transformed during the 1980s.

The unit structure remained in place until the formation of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh NHS Trust in 1994. Over this period the other hospitals included in the Unit at various times were Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion, Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital, Chalmers Hospital, Edinburgh Dental Hospital, City Hospital, Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital and Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.

Chronological within record class

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

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 2001

Compiled by Mike Barfoot and Jenny McDermott using existing handlists

Manual item-level descriptive list available

Records held within the National Health Service prior to transfer

No further accessions are expected

Lothian Health Board (LHB37)

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (LHB1)