National Radium Centre, Edinburgh

Scope and Content

Correspondence regarding the working of the National Radium Commission, the National Radium Centre at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and the Joint Committee of the Infirmary and University of Edinburgh 1929-1948

Administrative / Biographical History

The National Radium Commission was set up in 1929 with public money to distribute radium for research purposes as well as treatment of the sick. Having met standards of staffing and facilities laid down by the Commission, five National Radium Centres were set up in Scotland under the direction of local universities, one of which was at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. A Joint Committee was established by the Infirmary and the Faculty of Medicine at Edinburgh University. These papers relate to the workings of the Commission, the Committee and the Centre. The Commission wound up in 1948.

Arrangement

Chronological within record class

Access Information

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

Acquisition Information

Accessioned pre-1980, no details available

Note

Compiled by Mike Barfoot and Jenny McDermott from uncatalogued material

Other Finding Aids

Manual summary list available

Custodial History

Unknown

Accruals

No further accessions are expected