Scotland’s historic Queen Mother’s maternity hospital closes after 46 years

January 14, 2010 by Shawn Douglas  
Filed under: News

F-It!

 Email This Post

 

Leave a comment

Scotland said goodbye yesterday to its Queen Mother’s Hospital, one of Europe’s most modern when it opened 46 years ago.

On January 11, 1964 in Glasgow, Scotland, the Queen Mother’s Hospital opened its doors. A day later, the hospital’s first baby, James Wright, was born into the world to parents June and Nicholas. Yesterday, Wright visited the last baby to be born at the hospital, a 7 pound, 15 ounce Marcie Macleod, born to parents Natalie and Garri.

The Queen Mother’s Hospital, open for 46 years, closed its doors for the last time yesterday. The maternity hospital was one of the most modern hospitals in Europe when it opened, and it would later go on to innovate with the use of “real time” ultrasound scans.

Wright told Scotland’s Daily Record: “My mum was very proud that I was the first baby born here. She loved telling the story of how she got a silver cup because she was the first to give birth at the new hospital. I’m sad to see the old place closing. It did so much brilliant work.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Natalie Macleod, mother of Baby Marcie. “I’m exhausted,” she said. “But I’m totally thrilled that Marcie was the last Queen Mum’s baby.”

The NHS had previously expressed a desire to consolidate maternity services into more modern facilities, leading to the closure of the hospital.

“Following the extensive review of maternity services across Glasgow, the Queen Mother’s Hospital will close at the end of 2009,” says the NHS Greater Glasgow Web site. “Staff and services will be relocated to the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital and the expanded Southern General Maternity in accordance with the plan to reduce Glasgow’s maternity hospitals from three to two.”

Health chiefs of Glasgow claim that the closing of the hospital won’t affect the quality of maternity care in the region. But some are concerned that care may be hindered by delays in the building of a new children’s hospital at Southern General, scheduled to now be completed in 2015.

“There have already been delays and it’s really important there’s no further slippage,” said Jackie Baillie, a Labour party health spokeswoman to the Daily Record. “We need maternity and children’s care sited side by side.”

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to Baby Chums RSS feed.
Thanks for dropping by and enjoy!

Women in UK Faced With Serious Maternity Ward Problems
Last year over 3,500 women in the UJ were forced...

Premature Baby Leaves Hospital After 3 1/2 Years
A baby girl who was born premature at 24 weeks...

Sussex experiencing baby boom
Sussex has seen a small but noticeable increase in the...