Suite 444
Baltic Chambers
50 Wellington Street
Glasgow
G2 6HJ
Tel No: 0141 221 4043
Email:studio@hbs.org.uk
Hospitals
Click on the name of a hospital for more info.
Currently Served
The Western Infirmary, which has received programmes from HBS since 1970, has served as a teaching hospital since it was opened in 1874. It was created as an integral part of the removal of Glasgow University from the High Street to its present site at Gilmorehill. It initially had 150 beds which increased in 1881 to 350 and then to 630 in 1906. It has seen many developments over the years. A new nurses home was opened in 1891, the Lady Hozier Convalescent Home in 1893, the Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology was opened in 1936 and the Gardiner Institute of Medicine in 1938. In respect of both laboratory services and radiology, the Western has long been proud of its pioneering role.
In the 1960s it was agreed that the maintenance costs of the Western's original buildings could no longer be sustained and a rebuilding programme was authorised. The 256-bed Phase I work was completed in 1974 however Phase II was indefinitely postponed in 1975. Since the completion of the 576 bed Gartnavel General Hospital in 1973, the work of the Western Infirmary and Gartnavel General has been closely coordinated.
The hospital has received programmes from HBS since it opened in October 1973 and was designed as a variant of the Scottish District General Hospital model. At a late stage in the construction in-patient facilities for ophthalmology were added, which was in response to a fire in 1971 which destroyed much of the Glasgow Eye Infirmary. Originally the hospital contained 576 beds housed in an 8-storey ward block located on top of a 3-storey podium. Residential accommodation for 330 staff and students was also originally provided in 15 adjacent blocks, but these have since closed. Additional accommodation for communicable disease medicine was built at Gartnavel in 1998 and further development work is underway at the Gartnavel site.
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to the mid 1980's when the internal bed-head distribution system became unreliable. In the mid 1990's programmes once more commenced when an FM transmission system was installed at central studios and a specialist receiver connected to the Day Room Hi-Fi system. Blawarthill opened as the Renfrew and Clydebank Joint Hospital in 1897. It was an Infectious disease hospital until 1951 when tuberculosis and other specialties were added. In 1967 Blawarthill became a geriatric hospital.
Drumchapel Hospital is the most recent addition to our network, having joined in April 2000. The hospital has replaced ageing ward blocks with four modern wards, each catering for thirty senior in-patients. HBS broadcasts a special Sunday morning request show especially for the centre, which is transmitted over a speaker system in the facility’s communal room. This programme is very popular with our listeners.
The hospital which was founded in 1986 is situated on the Southside of Paisley and is one of the largest hospitals we serve in terms of the number of beds with operational radio headsets. The original radio distribution system that had been in place since the hospital opened eventually stopped working in April 2005. However, after a gap of two months the equipment was replaced and the hospital was once again connected to the station. The patients of the RAH provide a significant number of requests we play on the Open Line programme each evening.
The original Homoeopathic Hospital was opened in 1914 but was replaced by new premises on Great Western Road in 1931. The hospital originally had 30 beds however this was later reduced to 20. In March 1999 the present building was opened on a new site in the grounds of Gartnavel Hospital though it wasn't until August 2007 that our programmes eventually were heard on the bedside radio system.
The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre officially opened in February 2008. This state of the art centre was built especially for the treatment of cancer with some of the most advanced equipment available. HBS began broadcasting from this facility in mid-Summer 2009. Each patient at the Beatson has an entertainment unit at their bedside, where they can not only listen to the programmes HBS has to offer, but can also watch television or make a telephone call. This system also has a blue button, which enables the listener to make a free call to our studios and request any song they would like to hear.
Option to connect in future
Although not yet part of our network of connected hospitals, we have been discussing the option of extending our programmes to the hospital for a number of years and are hopeful that these discussions will conclude shortly.
The Golden Jubilee hospital is Scotland's national specialist centre for a number of medical procedures.
Originally built in the 1980's as HCI, a private hospital intended to attract clients from all around the world. In a little over a decade, the hospital, failing to attract enough business, was taken on by NHS Scotland to become a centre of excellence.
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to its closure in 2003. The name Canniesburn still continues to exist in Glasgow Healthcare with the Plastic Surgery work that was carried out at the site continuing in a new unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
(It was originally agreed with the Greater Glasgow Health Board in 1970 that programmes would be extended to Glasgow Royal Infirmary when the hospital's internal radio system was capable of distributing the signal. When it was eventually possible, a hospital chaplain unaware of the situation proceeded to set up a local radio service for the hospital, though it took a further five years to get on air and none of the original team remained. The organisation is now known as Royal 1 Radio and can be contacted on 0141 211 4835 if you would like a request played for someone in the new Canniesburn unit or indeed in any of the wards of Glasgow Royal Infirmary.)
Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to the closure of the hospital in 1991.
Duntocher, located on the Northern outskirts of Clydebank, opened in 1907. It was built as an Infectious Disease hospital by Milngavie Town Council and Dumbarton County. In 1956 it became a tuberculosis and chest medicine unit. After 1966 it also offered facilities for the hospitalisation of patients under the direct care of their own General Practitioners. Duntocher Hospital entered the National Health Service in 1948 under the Board of Management for Dunbartonshire Hospitals, was placed in the Greater Glasgow Health Board Western District in 1974 and closed in 1991. The site of the hospital can still be clearly seen on the left hand side of the road from Bearsden to Duntocher as a housing estate has been built within the original boundary of the site.
(Still open and in the process of being converted to a day hospital)
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to 1995 when the radio distribution system at the hospital completely failed. Two years later discussions started about re-establishing programmes but with the ongoing review of hospital services in the city it was unclear for a long time what was to become of the Stobhill site. Now confirmed to become an ambulatory care centre with no inpatients so it is unlikely that broadcasts will be connected again, though the option is still held open if the needs of the hospital change.
Stobhill was built by Glasgow Parish Council and opened in 1903-04. It had 1,867 beds, of which 200 were for pychiatric assessment. During the 1914-18 war the hospital was used for wounded servicemen and known as the 3rd and 4th Scottish General Hospitals.
In 1928 a new radiology department was opened. In 1930 Stobhill became a Glasgow Corporation hospital and in 1931 a new maternity unit opened. Stobhill became a teaching hospital in 1937 with the arrival of Noah Morris, Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Glasgow. In 1948 it was transferred to the National Health Service, under the Board of Management for Glasgow Northern Hospitals, and designated one of the 5 major central hospitals of the new Western Regional Hospital Board. Many upgradings and extensions followed, although the bed complement had dropped below 1,000 by 1965. In 1967-9 a Clinical Teaching Centre was completed. At the reorganisation of the National Health Service in 1974 Stobhill became the responsibility of the Northern District of the Greater Glasgow Health Board. The closure of the maternity unit, leaving Stobhill as a general and geriatric medicine hospital, was agreed in 1992.
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to the closure of the hospital in 1982.
A dispensary instituted in 1872 was reorganised as the Hospital and Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear in 1880. In 1905 its name was changed to include diseases of the nose and throat. In 1926 the Hospital moved from Elmbank Crescent to new premises in St Vincent St. In 1948 it joined the National Health Service under the Glasgow Western Hospitals Board of Management and in 1974 it was placed within the Western District of the Greater Glasgow Health Board.
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to the closure of the hospital in 1992.
The Eastern District Hospital (usually known as Duke St Hospital) was built as a 240 bed acute hospital by Glasgow Parish Council and opened in 1904. It has been suggested that the hospital contained the first psychiatric assessment wards to be incorporated in a Scottish general hospital. A new maternity unit was added in the 1940s and upgrading of facilities continued through the 1950s. A psychiatric out-patients department was opened in 1970. In 1977 the maternity unit was transferred to the new Rutherglen Maternity Hospital. Thereafter the hospital became a geriatric unit. It closed in 1992.
Programmes were provided from the start of broadcasting in December 1970 until the failure of the hospital's internal radio distribution system in the mid 1980's.
When the radio distribution system failed, the cables providing programmes from the city centre studios were removed. With modern technology it is now possible once more to broadcast programmes and consideration of reconnection is being made at this time, though any provision of programmes would have to be balanced to meet the needs of the patients as the broadcasts would almost certainly have to be via a loudspeaker system and therefore would need to tie in with the hospital's routine.
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to the closure of the hospital in 1990.
Knightswood Hospital was built jointly by the burghs of Hillhead, Maryhill and Partick and opened in 1877.
It became a Glasgow Corporation hospital when the city boundaries were widened in 1912. From 90 beds it was expanded to a 256 bed capacity by 1946, by which date it was catering for smallpox and tuberculosis patients. Following the creation of the National Health Service in 1948 the hospital came under the Board of Management for Glasgow Western Hospitals. Cardiology, neurology and respiratory medicine units moved to Knightswood during the 1950s and 1960s.
As the scale of Glasgow hospital provision shrank, between 1974 and 1990, these specialties returned to the Western Infirmary. Knightswood thus became a geriatric unit. Knightswood was the location of a laundry and infusion fluids laboratory providing services to a large group of hospitals.
Served by HBS from the foundation of The Service in 1970 through to the closure of the hospital in 1986.
The site of the hospital is now a warehouse storage facility for the nearby John Lewis Partnership store in Buchanan Galleries. During the years that The Hospital Broadcasting Service provided programmes, the hospital was the location for The Centre for Rheumatic Diseases which had been established at the small Baird Street Hospital in 1965. Upon closure, the Centre moved to a 28 bedded facility in the Queen Elizabeth building, part of the nearby Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
Programmes were provided by The Hospital Broadcasting Service from the start of network programming in 1970 until its closure in 1988.
The Glasgow Cancer Hospital, Scotland's first cancer hospital, opened in 1890. The name was changed in 1952. An out-patients clinic was opened in 1893. In 1930 the Glasgow and West of Scotland Radium Institute was inaugurated within the hospital. Despite an adverse assessment in the 1946 Scottish Hospitals Survey, new research laboratories were opened in 1951.
An appeal set up in March 1890 resulted in the opening on 13 October of that year, of a 10-bed hospital at 168 Hill Street, Garnethill, under the directorship of Dr.Hugh Murray. In 1893, the directors of the hospital decided to limit its work to the treatment of cancer patients only, appointing a full staff of medical officers, including a pathologist. In the following year, the Glasgow Cancer Hospital - the first hospital in Scotland to deal solely with cancer - was established, together with an outdoor dispensary, at 22 West Graham Street. In addition to the outpatient service, a domiciliary nursing service was setup to assist in the care of cancer patients in their own homes.
This service was established 60 years before the setting up of the Marie Curie Foundation. Where the Glasgow Cancer and Skin Hospital had been directed by Dr.Hugh Murray, the Director of the new Glasgow Cancer Hospital was Dr.George Beatson (later Sir George Beatson), one of the International pioneers in the treatment of breast cancer. In 1896, following a local appeal, the Glasgow Cancer Hospital moved to larger premises at 132-138 Hill Street, Gartnethill, two buildings on the site having been converted into a modern 30 bed hospital with provision for the pathological study of cancer and improved accommodation for nursing and domestic staff.
In 1906 a further appeal was raised to obtain funds with which to establish and equip a research department within the hospital. The buildings were opened on 30 May 1912 by Her Royal Highness Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. At the opening, her Royal Highness announced that from that time His Majesty King George V wished the hospital to be known as the Glasgow Cancer Hospital.
The hospital was subsequently further enlarged and rebuilt, bringing the total number of beds up to 50. From the start it treated not only people from Glasgow but also from surrounding areas. Analysis from the admissions between 1894 and 1922 showed that people from 22 out of the 35 Scottish counties had availed themselves of the hospital services as had a number of people from England and countries of the then British Empire.
In 1948, following the setting up of the National Health Service, it was decided to change the name of the Glasgow Cancer Hospital and after much discussion it was changed to the Royal Beatson Memorial Hospital.
In reality, this hospital was never actually served by 'The Hospital Broadcasting Service', instead in 1970 it received a year of programmes from the predecessor to HBS which was known as 'Radio Phoenix'. This year long experiment was run by the volunteers who had to prove to the then management of the Greater Glasgow Health Board that there was a justification for providing NHS patients with a personal radio service.
The experiment was a resounding success with many lessons learned and it paved the way for the establishment of the programmes that launched to the rest of the North of Glasgow on Christmas day 1970.
Opened in 1850 as Barnhill Poorhouse it was renamed Foresthall Home and Hospital in 1945. It remained under the control of Glasgow Corporation as a "non-transferred institution" under the 1947 National Health Service (Scotland) Act. It catered mainly for vagrants but had a geriatric section which was supervised by the Glasgow Northern Hospitals Board of Management / District. The geriatric section was closed in stages between 1978 and 1983 with the patients being dispersed to Belvidere, Duke St, Ruchill and Stobhill Hospitals.