Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital

Scope and Content

Management 1926-1946; administration 1929-1982; finance 1927-1973; patients (bound and unbound records) 1933-1990s

Administrative / Biographical History

The PMR was the first purely orthopaedic hospital in Scotland planned as a centre for the treatment of crippled children in South East Scotland. Funded by appeal it opened in 1932 and was known as the Edinburgh Hospital for Crippled Children. In 1934 it was renamed the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital to Crippled Children. The word "crippled" was dropped in 1937 and it acquired its final name in 1957 as progressively more adult cases were being treated. Special training for nurses in orthopaedics began in 1941. In 1948 it was part of the Board of Management for Edinburgh Central Hospitals and then the Board of Management of the Royal Victoria&Associated Hospitals. It became part of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh National Health Service Trust Hospital in 1994 and Lothian University Hospital NHS Trust in 1999. The PMR closed in January 2002, and its patients were the first to be transferred to the New Royal Infirmary at Little France.

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

Admin Office, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, August 1984 and Linda Fisher, Administrator, Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital, February 1985

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

Further accessions are expected

Related Material

Edinburgh Central Hospitals Board of Management (LHB29)Edinburgh Central Hospitals Board of Management (LHB29)Penicillin, wartime distribution to civilians in Edinburgh (GD1/74)Penicillin, wartime distribution to civilians in Edinburgh (GD1/74)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (LHB1)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (LHB1)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Samaritan Society (GD2)Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Samaritan Society (GD2)Royal Victoria and Associated Hospitals Board of Management (LHB10)Royal Victoria and Associated Hospitals Board of Management (LHB10)South Lothian District, Lothian Health Board (LHB28)

Bibliography

MacNicol, Malcolm (ed). Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital 1932-1982 [Edinburgh]: [The Hospital], [1982]