page_title: University Hospital Hairmyres
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: University Hospital Hairmyres / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: A former Tuberculosis Ward, Hairmyres Hospital
context_page_description: University Hospital Hairmyres is a district general hospital in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The hospital serves one of the largest elderly populations in Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lanarkshire.
context_section_description: The first building on the site was the Lanarkshire Inebriate Reformatory, formally opened on 1 December 1904. Only a handful of patients received treatment over the years, and the Reformatory closed in February 1911.
  Lanarkshire County Council purchased a nearby farm and established a tuberculosis sanatorium and working farm colony. The Hairmyres site was well suited, being accessible from major centres of population, yet set in a hillside over 500 feet above sea level and with its own supply of fresh food. Building started in December 1914 and continued through the First World War, with local workmen being assisted by German prisoners of war. The Secretary for Scotland, Sir Robert Munro conducted the official opening on 14 June 1919. The new buildings were in a crescent formation, facing south for maximum exposure to sunlight.
  The buildings comprised a male, female and children's pavilion and an observation block. A two-storey administration block contained the matron's and medical superintendent's offices, pharmacy, staff dining rooms and the matron's, nurses' and maids' living quarters. The former reformatory building was converted for use as a school. There were a total of 250 beds at Hairmyres. The farm colony gave practical training in outdoor occupations to the recuperating patients. The farm had a herd of tuberculin-tested Ayrshire cows, supplying milk butter and a source of income from the sale of calves. There was also a poultry farm and a piggery.
  During the 1930s the site was expanded to provide a 400-bed general hospital, including an orthopaedic department. By the end of the decade there was a new treatment block that included two operating theatres, a radiology department, two gymnasia and a new pharmacy. A new nurses' home was opened in 1937. In 1938 there were seven sisters, eight staff nurses, three assistant nurses and forty-one probationers.
caption: Tuberculosis Ward
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