Vale of Leven District General Hospital, Alexandria

Reference AC 40

Dates of Creation 1948-c2000s

Name of Creator Vale of Leven District General Hospital (hospital: 1955- : Alexandria)

Language of Material English

Physical Description 0.4m

Scope and Content

Minutes, 1950-1965, 1996;

Nurse training records, 1958-1991;

Photographs 1954-1997;

Publications, 1948-2000s.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Vale of Leven District General Hospital was initially built as an emergency project in 1955 on endowment land of the Henry Brock Vale of Leven Cottage Hospital.  The cottage hospital was an integral part of the new hospital. Named after Henry Brock, a Director of the United Turkey Red Company who bequeathed £15,000 for its inception, the hospital, which was also known as The Henry Brock Memorial Hospital, opened in 1924 in Bromley House, a converted mansion house.  From 1956 until 1977, when a new geriatric unit was opened, the Cottage Hospital functioned as the geriatric long stay unit and chronic sick assessment centre of the Vale of Leven Hospital. The cottage hospital was demolished in 1978.

The Vale of Leven Hospital was administered by the Board of Management for Dumbartonshire Hospitals until 1974, when the hospital came under the control of the Dumbarton district of the Argyll and Clyde Health Board following the re-organisation of the Health Service.  In 2005 when the Argyll and Clyde Health Board was disbanded, responsibility for the Vale of Leven Hospital passed to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.  In 2009, the Vale of Leven Hospital was subject to a public inquiry regarding an outbreak of Clostridium difficile within the hospital. Throughout the outbreak, 55 patients contracted Clostridium difficile, 18 of whom died.

Conditions Governing Access

Most of the material is open as there are currently no clinical records in this collection.  However, there are staff records, which are also subject to 75 year closure periods.

Appraisal Information

Appraised according to standard procedures.

Related Material

AB1 Argyll and Clyde Health Board; AC46 Board of Management for Dumbartonshire Hospitals; HB28 Western Regional Hospital Board, Glasgow; HB55 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde