Hospital type General (Rural) Number of beds 116 | Phone +44 1851 704704 Care system National Health Service | |
Website www.wihb.scot.nhs.uk/western-isles-hospital-stornoway Address Macaulay Rd, Isle of Lewis HS1 2AF, UK Similar Cambuskenneth Abbey, Uist and Barra Hospital, St Brendan's Hospital, Balfour Hospital, Caithness General Hospital | ||
Western isles hospital
The Western Isles Hospital (Scottish Gaelic: Ospadal nan Eilean Siar) is a rural general hospital in Stornoway on Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland. It is run by NHS Western Isles, the local health board. As of 2013 the hospital has 116 beds across a range of specialities, including general medicine, geriatrics, paediatrics, general surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology and psychiatry.
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Services
Some specialist services are provided by Consultants from Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on a rotational basis, and also by locum consultants. Junior doctors may be on rotations that take them across other parts of the north of Scotland.
The hospital employs nursing staff that are in the majority locals who trained on the Scottish mainland and have returned to work on the island. A variety of allied health professionals are based at the hospital, including dieticians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and radiographers.
The Western Isles Hospital also features the largest tiled roof in the world.
Within the hospital there is a learning centre and purpose-built facilities for clinical skills training.
History
Costing £32 million, and taking two years to construct, the hospital was opened to patients in September 1992. It was given an official opening on 26 March 1993, by HRH Prince Charles, who was said to have been impressed with the new facilities following a tour. In 2007 a six-bedded stroke rehabilitation unit opened. In 2012, the hospital marked the 20th anniversary of its opening.
A modernisation plan for the hospital has included improvement work during 2013 and 2014 to a number of areas. In late 2014 the health board announced a Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanner service would be based at the hospital.