East Fortune Hospital

Scope and Content

Administration 1941-1957; patients (bound and unbound records) 1922-1979

Administrative / Biographical History

East Fortune Hospital was opened as a tuberculosis sanatorium for the south east of Scotland in 1922 when a World War I naval airship station at Drem, East Lothian, was converted into a hospital. For the duration of World War II the patients were accommodated in a hutted annexe at Bangour Hospital. East Fortune Hospital became part of the Board of Management of East Lothian Hospitals in 1948. In 1956 as tuberculosis patients began to decrease in number, mentally handicapped children were admitted, followed by adults three years later. The hospital became part of the North Lothian District of Lothian Health Board in 1974 and was closed in 1997 following the transfer of patients to Roodlands Hospital in Haddington.

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

East Fortune Hospital, January 1991

Note

Compiled by Mike Barfoot and Jenny McDermott using existing handlists

Other Finding Aids

Manual item-level descriptive list available

Custodial History

Records held within the National Health Service prior to transfer

Accruals

No further accessions are expected

Related Material

East Lothian Hospitals Board of Management (LHB17)East Lothian Hospitals Board of Management (LHB17)North Lothian District, Lothian Health Board (LHB27)