| Administrative History | County Hospital, Dufftown, Moray, was one of the results of the increasing powers of county councils at the end of the 19th century. County councils in Scotland were established in 1889 and took over many of the ad hoc functions of the Commissioners of Supply and lesser bodies. The Burgh Police Act of 1892 and the Public Health (Scotland) Act of 1897 strengthened their control over police and health matters.
Negotiations to build an infectious diseases hospital for the Upper Banffshire District of the County of Banff began as early as 1892. The original idea was to build on a site adjoining the Stephen Cottage Hospital in Dufftown, but this fell through and it was only in 1901 that a firm decision to build was made and a site on the other side of the town chosen. The hospital opened in 1905 with Miss McConachie, a native of Glenrinnes and formerly Matron of the Northern Infirmary, Inverness, as Matron.
In 1907, an ambulance and a disinfector were provided at the hospital, the former being replaced by a motor ambulance in 1922. According to the 1927 Minister Of Health Report, the accommodation at the hospital consisted of two blocks of two wards, one for scarlet fever and the other for diphtheria and typhoid. A small observation block of two wards was built in the same year. Electric light was introduced in 1938, and by 1939 the hospital could accommodate 20 adults and 10 children.
In 1948 the County Hospital was taken over by the National Health Service and was administered by the Upper Banffshire Hospitals Board of Management. When this was dissolved in 1964 the administration of the hospital passed to the Banffshire Hospitals Board of Management, and then from 1974 it was part of the West District. From that date the hospital served as a geriatric hospital until its closure in 1984. |