Transplant facilities

From EdREN, the website of the Renal Unit of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Room B15 – the first ‘transplant unit’

“Only sterile things were allowed into the “clean corridor”. Anything removed from the patient’s room would be taken away via the “dirty corridor”. So there was a one-way traffic. Doctors could go into dirty corridor to look at readings on the patient monitors. These included ECG, blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate and temperature monitors. Only one patient was treated at a time, as there was only one room for post-transplant care.” (Dr A Lambie). More info
The Nuffield Transplant Surgery Unit

The new building was designed by Peter Womersley and built at the Western General Hospital.  It was opened on 31st January 1968.  The bridge on the right had side was to take patients into the radiotherapy department for whole body irradiation, an ultimately unsuccessful technique for preventing rejection. The photo is from Hopper and Space; more photos of the building (Middleton van Jonker).

 

The design was such that dialysis machines and X-ray machines could operate from outside the patients’ rooms. The new building was described in detail in the Lancet in 1968.

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