| Administrative History | Originally opened as a cottage hospital, a committee was formed to make improvements to the hospital. Mr William Longmore, who was appointed convener, started off the fund with a donation of £200, and a further £500 was obtained from the Trust of John A Longmore on condition that a ward for incurables was added to the hospital. The parishes of Grange and Botriphnie joined with Keith, and by January 1879, with the aid of local collections and a bazaar held in June 1878, the fund amounted to £2,185 12s 1d. A site was acquired from Lord Seafield for a nominal yearly payment and the establishment was named the "Turner Memorial Hospital" in memory of the late Dr Robert Turner. On 31 December 1880 the hospital opened with Mr William Longmore as its first president and Dr R S Turner as the medical superintendent.
In 1891 the neighbouring parish of Boharm applied for the right to use the hospital and it was admitted the following year. By 1893 more accommodation was needed and at the instigation and expense of Mr George Kynoch (one of the directors), two additional fever wards were built. Mr Kynoch died in 1894 but the Kynoch Wards were completed and opened in 1895, bringing the total bed complement to 24.
According to an agreement in 1895, infectious disease patients from the four parishes, who like all fever patients were properly the responsibility of the local council, were to be admitted to the hospital, but after 1905 when the new Isolation Hospital at Dufftown opened the fever wards at Keith were used only for patients from the Burgh of Keith or for certain private infectious disease cases. It was thought to use the vacated beds as a maternity centre for Upper Banffshire, though this did not happen immediately and it was not until September 1939 that maternity patients began to be admitted to the Turner Memorial Hospital on a regular basis.
In 1948 the Turner Memorial Hospital became part of the National Health Service, being administered by the Upper Banffshire Hospitals Board of Management which merged with the Lower Banffshire Board in 1964. From 1974 the hospital became part of Grampian Health Board's West District (later the West Unit), and, since 1 April 1993, has been one of the hospitals administered by Moray Health Services NHS Trust. It had 30 beds.
X-ray apparatus belonging to the late Mr Andrew Thorburn was bestowed on the hospital in 1913 by Mr Thomson - a particularly important gift in view of the agreement of 1914 with the County Council for the treatment of tuberculosis. The intention was that the County Council should help finance the erection of a phthisis pavilion and further extensions, but these plans were delayed in 1915 because of the war restrictions. The proposed pavilion was again discussed in 1920 but postponed due to restrictions on public expenditure.
The hospital continued to admit fever patients from Keith Burgh and TB cases were admitted to fever wards when they were not needed for Keith patients: the disadvantage of this was that TB patients might have to be removed at very short notice.
A proposal in 1919 to use or acquire Earlsmount House as an annexe of the hospital failed and it was only in 1926 that an enlargement of the hospital was finally completed. This provided the much longed for operating room and much needed extra staff accommodation. Today, Turner Memorial Hospital has 22 beds providing medical care, rehabilitation, assessment, palliative care and convalescence |