About the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Archives

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Archives is one of the largest health authority archives in the UK. The holdings consist principally of the archives of the hospitals in the Glasgow area and in Dumbarton, Greenock and Paisley. These date back to the late eighteenth century when Glasgow Royal Infirmary was established.

The archive holds also some personal papers and the prime records of NHS administrative bodies, including the defunct Western Regional Health Board.

The archives include the minutes of governing bodies, architects’ drawings of hospital buildings, photographs, accounts, correspondence, reports and records of patient care. Medical advances documented include antiseptic surgery (Lister), aseptic surgery (Macewen), caesarean delivery (Cameron), ultrasound (Donald) and the use of X-rays (MacIntyre). Developments in psychiatric care (Parry-Jones), physiotherapy (T M Anderson) and nursing (Strong) are also extensively covered.

Data protection

The records are subject to some restrictions on access. In particular, there is a 75 year closure period in respect of patient’s clinical records, in order to comply with the data protection regulations. There is an established procedure by means of which access may be granted for research purposes to records which are currently closed, subject to satisfactory assurances being given as to protecting the identity of individual patients.  Information from individual patients’ records may be disclosed, for example, where the patient gives their consent.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

See "Related Links" for the websites for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Freedom of Information Office.

History of the Glasgow Medical School

There is a substantial overlap between the history of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Archives and the history of the Medical School at the University of Glasgow.  See "Related Links" for the Medical School's history pages.