LHB64 St John's Hospital

Collection Summary

Reference Code: GB239 LHB64

Title: St John’s Hospital

Administrative Dates: 1989-

Dates of Creation of Material: 1971-2002

Level of Description: Fonds

Extent and Medium of the Unit of Description: 0.5 linear metres: files, newspaper cuttings, videos, photographs

Name of creator(s): St John’s Hospital

Administrative history: St John's Hospital is the main general hospital in Livingston, West Lothian. Located in the Howden area of the town, it serves Livingston, west Edinburgh, and the wider West Lothian region. St John's is one of three hospitals run by NHS Lothian which have accident and emergency services and it also has special status as a teaching hospital for the University of Edinburgh Medical School.

Livingston had previously been served by Bangour General Hospital, near Dechmont to the north of Livingston, from 1939. The Livingston Development Corporation (LDC), which oversaw the development of the new town of Livingston from 1962, had planned to move the general hospital to Livingston from around 1974. The new hospital was opened in 1989, and Bangour General Hospital was closed in the early 1990s.

The current facilities at St John's include a recently renovated accident and emergency ward, and a large maternity unit, where around 2,500 babies are born annually. It also contains many specialist services for south east Scotland, including oral and maxillofacial, burns and plastic surgery units. The hospital is being promoted as the main regional centre for elective surgery, and as a centre for minimally invasive surgery. This centre, supported by University of Edinburgh professors, will provide Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgery, orthopaedic surgery, and urology.

Howden Health Centre, is located within the hospital grounds, but predates the hospital by several years. It is a community health centre, and provides a range of health services for the local population. As well as accommodating a large NHS medical practice, there is a Family Planning clinic, Genitourinary Medicine clinic, Community Pharmacy, District Nursing team, and Health Visitor team based in the building.

Archival History: Records held within the National Health Service prior to transfer.

Immediate Source of Acquisition or Transfer: Acc 06/14 – Mike Grieve, St John’s Hospital

Scope and Content: administrative records, 1971-2002; videos, c1995; photographs, c1980-2000

Appraisal, Destruction and Scheduling Information: no disposals made

Accruals: Possibility of further accessions.

System of Arrangement: Artificial order imposed

Conditions Governing Access: Public access to these records is governed by UK data protection legislation, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and the current Scottish Government Records Management: NHS Code of Practice (Scotland).

Conditions Governing Reproduction: Reproduction is subject to closure periods and physical condition

Language/Scripts of Material: English

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements: Paper

Finding Aids: Item level catalogue

Archivists’ Notes: Compiled by Alison Scott

Rules or Conventions: Description based on ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description International Council on Archives (2nd edition), 2000

Date(s) of Description: January 2011