Ruchill Hospital

Ruchill Hospital was a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland that specialised in the treatment of infectious disease. In 1891, land was purchased by the Glasgow Corporation partly for a second fever hospital in the city. Work started on the hospital in 1895 and it opened on June 13, 1900 by Princess Christian. It had 440 beds when it opened and was designed specifically to deal with infectious diseases. By the time that it was absorbed into the NHS in 1948, there were 1000 beds. In the 1980s, the hospital treated many sexually transmitted diseases and was designated as the primary hospital in Glasgow to deal with cases of HIV. The hospital was closed in 1998 and was sold by the NHS to Scottish Enterprise in July 1999.

History

In 1891 when the boundaries of Glasgow were extended to include Ruchill and Maryhill, the Glasgow Corporation purchased 53 acres (21 ha) of land there for a public park, golf course and 36 acres (15 ha) for the city's second fever hospital, to relieve the increasingly cramped conditions at Belvidere Hospital in Parkhead.

Ruchill

Coordinates: 55°53′13″N 4°16′13″W / 55.886871°N 4.270316°W / 55.886871; -4.270316

Ruchill (pronounced "ruch hill") is a district in the city of Glasgow. It lies within the Canal Ward of North Glasgow in the Ruchill Community Council area between the Maryhill and Possilpark areas of the city. It has traditionally been characterised by a high degree of deprivation and social problems. However, from the late 1990s much of the poorer-quality housing stock has been cleared to be replaced by newly built housing association and owner-occupied homes, improving much of the area's character.

One part of the area that is largely unchanged is High Ruchill, which unlike the rest of the area was never made up of tenemental properties, but semi-detached housing instead. This part of Ruchill also never suffered the same concentration of social problems as the rest of the area.

Ruchill Hospital

The area was formerly the site of Ruchill Hospital. In 1891 when the boundaries of Glasgow were extended to include Ruchill and Maryhill, the Glasgow Corporation purchased 53 acres (210,000 m²) of land there for a public park, golf course and 36 acres (150,000 m²) for the city's second fever hospital, to relieve the increasingly cramped conditions at Belvidere Hospital in Parkhead.