06 History of the Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital

In 1861 a few philanthropic ladies formed themselves into a society for visiting the sick and poor of the village. However, Aberfeldy and district owed a great debt of gratitude to the late E C Douglas, Esq., and Mrs Douglas of Killiechassie, for it was to their inception that the “House for the Sick” was inaugurated in the early 1870s at 26 Kenmore Street and carried on for a considerable period at their expense.

The “Home” was unpretentious, with no trained staff and was only a single room in a tenement facing the street with no modern conveniences such as a bathroom nor very special hospital equipment. But it was the beginning of what was to materialise later on, and was so much appreciated, and taken advantage of, by the inhabitants, that some years later it was resolved to erect a Hospital at the east end of the town in a street which after the Home was erected was called Home Street.

The new Hospital was opened in the year 1879 and funds raised by two bazaars (£644 16s 4d) and, with subscriptions, met the outlay. The ground floor of the new building was for disease and accident and the upper floor for infectious cases, there being no communication between the flats.

The staff consisted of a matron and a maid servant and it was not until 1892 that a Probationer was engaged. This lady was Nurse McLeod from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary who became Matron later and whose long and faithful services were very much appreciated for over 30 years, during which period she saw the hospital settled in new premises and firmly established in popular favour of the community.

In 1908 the local MP Sir Donald Currie offered to contribute one half of the cost of a new hospital if the Hospital Committee agreed to raise the rest. The site was provided free of charge by Gavin, 3^rd Marquis of Breadalbane.

Before moving from Home Street to the present site, Trustees and a Committee of Management were appointed and subscriptions collected for its support throughout the district and these voluntary contributions were kept up ever since, and have been the principal source of revenue. Before the endowment, the charges were 5/- per week for men, and 4/- for women.

The Committee fulfilled their promise, the money was raised, and in October 1910 the new building, designed by Dunn and Watson of the James M Maclaren practice, was opened.

It contained two male and two female wards, with good staff accommodation. The number of patients increased as shown in the records: in 1904 – 28 patients, in 1914 – 69, and in 1936 -177.

An extension of the Hospital was carried out in 1932. It included the extension of the public wards, two for private patients, an additional nurses’ room, an operating theatre, shadow-less Lamp, X-Ray room, and the instillation of electric light. The total cost was £2,500 met by contributions from the District and was opened free of debt.

In 1936, the Committee, encouraged by the offer of £170 by one of the Trustees, installed heating and, by the gift of an additional Sun Lounge from the donor of the one already erected, they proceeded with these improvements which also included a new two-bed ward and a storeroom at a cost of £1,600 to £1700, mostly met out of Capital. In 1940s, the staff accommodation was moved to the Beechfield villa across the road.

Before the National Health Service arrived in 1948, funding as mentioned above came mainly from voluntary subscriptions raised in the district with additional revenue coming from patients, through the Highlands and Islands Medical Board, proceeds of dances, whist drives and entertainments, and from gifts in kind.

Under the National Health Service, three specialist clinics were established, each held monthly by consultants in medicine, surgery, etc. In 1952 the hospital became the Maternity (lying-in) Centre for Highland Perthshire and that year 120 babies were born and a further 243 inpatients were treated.

In the 1980s with centralisation of services, the Cottage Hospital was converted from a 17-bed GP/obstetric hospital to a 21-bed GP/care of the elderly hospital, with facilities for day care and upgrading of the out-patient, casualty and X-ray areas. With the hospital always being very much a community resource, it continued to look after the needs of the local population and visitors to the surrounding area.

A team of Nurse Prescribers allowed patients to be assessed and given the relevant medication immediately. The hospital also developed local treatment areas, replacing the need for journeys to hospitals in Perth and Dundee. It worked closely with the local district nurses in the continuing needs of patients requiring palliative care. Two dedicated rooms were re-decorated with help of the hospital League of Friends along with other projects to help develop and extend the hospital’s facilities. On September 9^th, 2009, the Aberfeldy Community Hospital (Home) celebrated its centenary and continued to deliver services and care in the community for local people living in and around the town.