Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
NHS Lothian
Main entrance
Shown in Edinburgh
Geography
LocationLittle France, Edinburgh, Scotland
Coordinates55°55′22″N 3°08′12″W / 55.9229°N 3.1366°W / 55.9229; -3.1366
Organisation
Care systemNHS Scotland
TypeTeaching
Affiliated universityUniversity of Edinburgh Medical School
Services
Emergency departmentYes
Beds>900
HelipadYes
History
Opened1729 (1729)
Links
WebsiteOfficial website

The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire. The hospital moved to a new 900 bed site in 2003 in Little France. It is the site of clinical medicine teaching as well as a teaching hospital for the University of Edinburgh Medical School. In 1960 the first successful kidney transplant performed in the UK was at this hospital. In 1964 the world's first coronary care unit was established at the hospital. It is the only site for liver, pancreas, and pancreatic islet cell transplantation in Scotland, and one of the country's two sites for kidney transplantation. In 2012, the Emergency Department had 113,000 patient attendances, the highest number in Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lothian.