Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children

LHB5: Management 1859-1948; administration 1859-1961; finance 1859-1956; plans and buildings 1861-1958; history and publications 1859-1969; staff 1876-1982; Muirfield Convalescent Home 1897-1952; patients (bound records) 1860-1954; LHB5A: Sick Children's Appeal 1991-1992

Opened in 1860 as Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children, and received Royal patronage in 1863. It was originally situated in the Lauriston Lane area then moved to current building in Sciennes Road designed by G Washington Brown, 1895. Muirfield Convalescent Home opened in 1909. In 1948 it became part of the Edinburgh Central Hospitals of South Eastern Regional Hospital Board and in 1974-1984, part of South Lothian District of Lothian Health Board. It is now known as Edinburgh Sick Children's NHS Trust Hospital.

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 Hospital for Sick Children

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

Further accessions are expected

Edinburgh Central Hospitals Board of Management (LHB29)Edinburgh Central Hospitals Board of Management (LHB29)Guthrie, Douglas, medical historian (GD1/36)Guthrie, Douglas, medical historian (GD1/36)Penicillin, wartime distribution to civilians in Edinburgh (GD1/74)Penicillin, wartime distribution to civilians in Edinburgh (GD1/74)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Samaritan Society (GD2)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Samaritan Society (GD2)South Lothian District, Lothian Health Board (LHB28)

Guthrie, Douglas. The Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children 1860-1960. Edinburgh: E and S Livingstone, 1960.