| Administrative History | Gray's Hospital, Elgin, Moray, (also known as Dr Gray's), the third oldest existing hospital in the Grampian area, takes its name from Alexander Gray (d 1807), a native of Elgin, who spent over 20 years of his life in Bengal as a surgeon for the East India Company. When he died he left £20,000 `for the establishment of an hospital in the town of Elgin for the sick of the poor of the town and county of Murray'. Gray's heirs contested the will and for seven years legal proceedings prevented any action being taken. In 1814 the Court of Chancery finally declared that the will should stand. A site for the hospital - `a field immediately West of the Town of Elgin' - was purchased in 1814 and on 11 July 1815 the foundation stone was laid, a ceremony said to have been interrupted by the news of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
The hospital was designed by James Gillespie Graham, an Edinburgh architect recommended by the Earl of Moray, and opened to patients on 1 January 1819. It had 30 beds and seven staff and during its first year 204 patients were treated.
By 1850 repeated epidemics of infectious disease led to the upper floor of Gray's being converted into fever wards which were reached by a separate staircase entrance at the back of the building. By the end of the 19th century the care of infectious diseases had become a statutory function of local authorities and in 1897 the Governors of Gray's decided to stop admitting infectious disease cases, thus forcing the Elgin local authority to build their own hospital - the Joint County Infectious Disease Hospital.
In 1905 a donation of £10,000 from a Mr Shepherd enabled Gray's Hospital to build a much-needed extension which housed an operating theatre, x-ray department and increased staff accommodation. This was situated at the rear of the building and opened in 1909. By the late 1930s the building of a further extension block was required. This provided out-patient departments and more staff accommodation and was opened in 1939. During both World Wars Gray's took in military patients. In the First World War the patients were mainly from the Admiralty whereas during the Second World War they were mainly from the Air Force.
Gray's Hospital was incorporated into the National Health Service in 1948 and along with the neighbouring hospital, Bilbohall, was administered by the Moray Hospitals Board of Management. Bilbohall had been built as a small lunatic asylum in 1835 and over the years had been greatly developed and extended. In the late 1960s a corridor joining the two hospitals was built. The corridor acted as a link between the two, and various departments were situated off the corridor including the occupational therapy department, a central kitchen and the staff dining room.
In May 1990, following a comprehensive review of acute health care services in Moray, the Scottish Office gave approval for the re-development of Gray's Hospital on the existing site. Part of the old Bilbohall Hospital was demolished to make way for the first stage of the re-development and construction work began in February 1993. The first stage comprised a main ward block, three new operating theatres, a 5-bed maternity delivery suite and a special care baby unit. A laboratory, pharmacy and a new kitchen and staff restaurant were also provided. This work was completed in May 1995 on schedule. The second and third stages were completed in 1997 and included a new acute psychiatric ward and new out-patient, accident and emergency and imaging departments.
From 1 April 1993 Gray's Hospital, Elgin was part of Moray Health Services NHS Trust then in 1998 it became part of the Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust. |
| Description | GRHB 45/1 Minutes 1809-1948 (indexed 1881 - 1948)
GRHB 45/2 Registers of admission/case books, 1819-1827, 1839-1840. 1851-1852, May 1853 to July 1855, 1873-1894, 1942-1986
GRHB 45/3 Printed copies of Alexander Gray's will of 1807; annual patient statistics and abstracts of accounts, 1918-1948 (with gaps) |