History of Dundee - Hospitals

Hospitals

The original Town Hospital in Dundee was founded in what is now the Nethergate in 1530 to provide for the support of the sick and elderly persons dwelling in the burgh and run by the Trinitarians. After the Reformation its running was taken over by the town council and it was used to house and care for a dozen 'decayed burgesses'. The original building was replaced in about 1678. During the 18th century it was decided it was better to care for the needy in their own homes and the hospital was then used for other purposes. Tay Street was built on its extensive gardens, and St Andrews Cathedral was later erected on the site of the hospital itself.

In 1798 an infirmary was opened in King Street which would serve as the principal hospital in Dundee for almost 200 years. This hospital was granted a Royal Charter by George III in 1819, after which it became known as the "Dundee Royal Infirmary and Asylum". In 1820 the asylum was formally established as a separate entity in its own premises in Albert Street, and the hospital in King Street became Dundee Royal Infirmary (commonly known as DRI). The infirmary moved to larger premises in Barrack Road in 1855. The asylum received a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1875 and became known as Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum. In 1879 work began on a new site for the asylum at Westgreen Farm, Liff to which all patients had been transferred by October 1882. A second building, Gowrie House was erected to the south of Westgreen for private patients. From 1903 Westgreen was owned and operated by the Dundee District Lunacy Board as Dundee District Asylum, while Gowrie House continued as Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum. The two were recombined in 1959 as Dundee Royal Mental Hospital and later became known as Royal Dundee Liff Hospital.

During an outbreak of cholera in 1832, a building in Lower Union Street was converted into an isolation hospital, but was refitted for use as lodgings after the epidemic was over. Other temporary isolation facilities were used later in the century, but in 1889 King's Cross Hospital was opened in Clepington Road as Dundee's first permanent fever hospital. By 1913 it had expanded its facilities from two wards to seven. It was run by the town council until the creation of the National Health Service. From 1929 the town council also ran Maryfield Hospital, Stobswell, which had formerly been the East Poorhouse Hospital. The hospital eventually took over the entire site of the East Poorhouse and served as Dundee's second main hospital after DRI.

In 1899 the Victoria Hospital for Incurables was set up in Jedbrugh Road to provide long term nursing care for the terminally ill. This would later become Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1959 it gained a geriatric ward and is now mainly used for patients over the age of 65, and is also home to the Centre for Brain Injury Rehabilitation.

After World War Two it soon became apparent that Dundee’s existing hospital facilities were insufficient. They also provided inadequate teaching facilities for the medical students at what was to become the University of Dundee. A new hospital was planned, and after several delays was opened at Ninewells in 1974. The opening of Ninewells Hospital led to the closure of Maryfield to patients in 1976, although some of its buildings were retained for use for administration purposes. Dundee Royal Infirmary’s functions were also gradually transferred to Ninewells and it closed in 1998. In the 1990s and 2000s many of King’s Cross Hospital’s functions were also moved to Ninewells, but it still retains a number of outpatient departments and also serves as the headquarters of NHS Tayside.