Gilbert Bain Hospital

The Gilbert Bain Hospital is a small general hospital which represents the principal medical care facility in Shetland. It forms a prominent landmark in Lerwick, overlooking Clickimin Loch and Brei Wick, a half-mile (0.8 km) west southwest of the town centre. Comprising a three-storey concrete structure, with a basement, the hospital offers a total of 76 beds, including 26 acute surgical and 20 acute medical beds, a rehabilitation unit, maternity unit, dialysis unit, dental suite and an accident & emergency department. There is also a CT scanning facility. It was built 1958-60 to replace an older building of the same name, and officially opened on the 8th August 1961 by HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900 - 2002). The foundation stone had been laid on 21st April 1959, by Robert Ollason, Chairman of the Board of Shetland Hospitals. The original Gilbert Bain Hospital, situated nearby on King Harald Street, was gifted in 1901 as a memorial to a son of Lerwick, who had made his fortune in India and the Far East. By the 1930s it was realised its facilities were inadequate, but the Second World War delayed plans for a replacement.

The hospital is run by Shetland NHS Trust, which has its headquarters in Brevik House, the former Shetland Poorhouse, on the opposite side of South Road. Gilbert Bain Hospital is one of the larger public-sector users connected to the Lerwick District Heating Scheme.


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