Balfour Hospital

Balfour Hospital
Balfour Hospital
NHS Orkney
	The new hospital under construction
	Shown in Orkney
Geography
Location	Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland, United Kingdom
Coordinates	58°58′32″N 2°57′52″W / 58.9756°N 2.9644°W
Organisation
Care system	NHS Scotland
Type	General
Affiliated university	University of Aberdeen; Robert Gordon University
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	49
History
Opened	1845
Links
Website	www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/service/hospital-services

Balfour Hospital is a rural general hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney. It is managed by NHS Orkney.

History

In 1836, John Balfour of Trenabie set up a charitable trust for the founding of a hospital with the interest from £20,000 worth of Mexican government bonds. In 1845, the trustees of the hospital fund bought the house from local merchant, James Shearer, together with the two large gardens and blacksmith's shop on the west side of the street, for £450. At first known simply as the Orkney Hospital, it became the Balfour Hospital in 1853, in recognition of the contribution of the Balfour family.^[1] This building is now the Kirkwall West End Hotel.^[1]

A new purpose built hospital in New Scapa Road in Kirkwall opened in 1927.^[2] A Macmillan House ward for cancer patients had opened at the Eastbank Hospital in 1993; this was replaced by a Macmillan House ward in the Balfour Hospital in March 2000.^[3]

The Groundwater Suite opened in 2011, bringing a new operating theatre, a sterilising department, and new x-ray unit to the Balfour hospital. This £5 million development was named after Bill Groundwater, a distinguished former surgeon from the islands.^[4]

A new purpose built hospital designed by Keppie Design and built by Robertson Group at a cost of £65 million opened in July 2019.^[5]^[6]^[7] It is first hospital in the UK built to a net-zero standard, which means the running of the building does not contribute to carbon emissions. It has a fully-electric energy centre with air-to-water heat pumps generating all hot water and electricity, solar panels on the roof and back-up oil generators in case of emergency.^[8]

Services

Balfour Hospital has 48 beds in six wards, a day hospital and a day-surgery unit.^[9] There are currently approximately 136 births a year at the maternity unit and it has full accreditation as baby friendly, since July 2014.^[10] The high dependency unit was closed in November 2022 due to “staffing challenges”.^[11]

Performance

In 2013, hospital mortality figures were the worst in Scotland with a higher than expected death rate in 23 of the last 27 quarters, resulting in 128 more deaths than expected, but the small numbers involved mean that little reliance can be placed on the figures.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b "West End Hotel, Kirkwall". archived from 4hotels.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
^ "Balfour Hospital". Historic Hospitals. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
^ "Orkney News Archive". Orcadian. 6–12 January 2003. Archived from the original on 3 March 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
^ "First Minister Opens New Balfour Hospital Development" (Press release). Scottish Government. 2 March 2001. Archived from the original on 7 February 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
^ "NHS Orkney hospital tops out". Scottish Construction Now. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "New hospital to be named The Balfour". The Orcadian. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "New Orkney Hospital". Premier Construction News. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "Scotland leads the way on NHS net-zero challenge". Building Better Healthcare. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
^ "Services: Balfour Hospital". NHS Orkney. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
^ "Baby Friendly accreditation: Balfour Hospital". Baby Friendly Initiative. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
^ "Balfour shuts unit amid staff shortage". Orcadian. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
^ "Study reveals 538 'excess deaths' at Scotland's worst hospital". Scottish Express. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.