Stracathro Hospital
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Stracathro Hospital dates back to 1939. It was built on the grounds of Stracathro House. It was chosen as a site for a hospital because of its isolation, providing a haven for soldiers and civilians to convalesce during WWII.
It was designed to be a temporary hospital to cope with up to 1,000 patients but intriguingly, only 999 were treated at the hospital.
The first patients were the victims of an air-raid on Montrose in 1940 but soon civilian casualties from London, Birmingham and Coventry, and later soldiers were transferred to Stracathro, via Brechin railway station, for treatment and convalescence.
After the war, the hospital became a teaching hospital with specialised departments including orthopaedic surgery and a high-tech surgical appliance unit.
The mansion, which stands at the edge of the drive into the hospital, was completed in 1827. Now a private home, the mansion once housed doctors and nurses before being sold by Tayside Health Authority in 2003.
Half of the hospital is in use as the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre (SRTC) and is home of Scotland’s first independent sector treatment centre.
The SRTC is open 24 hours a day, seven days per week. And carries out day case and inpatient procedures including orthopaedics, general surgery, ear, nose and throat surgery, urology and minor plastic surgery. It is expected they will carry out some 3,000 cases per year.
The entire site has been used since WWII but in the late 90s the hospital was threatened with closure and one half of the site has been derelict ever since.
Its within these derelcit sections though that is of interest, the layout of the entire site is single storey and very military in layout.
In many ways the design is very reminiscent of Law Hospital but hidden away in its wards lies some really fascinating artifacts including an Iron Lung from years gone by. The curious thing is that its actually made of wood!
A superb site though and one I doubt any of us will ever encounter again. Along with the Iron Lung there are other interesting items still in situ, from medical equipment to X-Ray machines to electric ambulances, some sections even still have the electricity on.
A very unique and awesome explore filled with amazing finds and yet its seldom explored?
EXPLORED 2009 - DEMOLISHED 2009
Stracathro Hospital
URBAN ASSAULT
