Nurses Home, view from NW

Description Nurses Home, view from NW

Date 17/11/1993

Catalogue Number SC 776402

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 17817

Scope and Content Nurses' Home, Hartwood Hospital, Shotts, North Lanarkshire, from the north-west (now closed and mainly demolished) This imposing four-storeyed building, set in its own grounds, was designed in 1926 as a home for female nurses. It was built in a similar architectural style as the main hospital block, and on a similar giant scale. It was constructed in cream-coloured sandstone on a U-plan, with Scots Baronial-style detailing and a harled attic storey. The asylum opened with a nursing staff of 42 - 25 male attendants and 17 female nurses - to look after 420 patients. The male attendants worked exclusively on the male wards, and the female nurses worked on the female wards. They worked 12-hour shifts, averaging 84 hours per week with unpaid overtime often resulting in a total of 90 hours worked each week. Pay and conditions of service appear to have been relatively good, with female nurses being paid £18 per annum, including uniform and board, in their first year, rising to £22 at the end of the second year, and attendants receiving £33 per year. Their training was supervised by the first Medical Superintendent of the asylum, Dr Archibald Campbell Clark, who was also one of the first to realise that in order for the care of patients to develop beyond merely maintaining them in custody, asylums required nursing staff with a sound knowledge and training in mental illness. He instituted lectures in accordance with the syllabus laid down by the Medico-Psychological Association, and set up a teaching course for nursing staff consisting of 12 lectures and 12 demonstrations, after which the nurses could sit an examination set by the association. From 1909 to 1924 the hospital presented annually a medal to its 'top nurse' in honour of Miss Julia F Ferguson, the first Matron of the asylum. Hartwood Hospital, a large Baronial-style building with imposing twin towers, was designed by the architect, John L Murray of Biggar (d.1909), and occupied one of the largest hospital sites in Scotland. It was built as the District Asylum for Lanark and opened in 1895 with accommodation for 500 lunatic patients. Between 1898 and 1916 additions included two large ward blocks, each linked to the rear of the main building by a covered corridor, a sanatorium for the isolation of patients suffering from tuberculosis, and a new admission hospital. In 1931 a new nurses' home, designed by the architect, James Lochhead (1870-1942), opened to the south of the complex, and in c.1935, a new site was developed at nearby Hartwood Hill in response to the growing need for accommodation for mentally handicapped adults. The hospital is now closed and mainly demolished. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/776402

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