Nostalgia - A tradition of invention

THE operating theatre was a stage enclosed by tiered rows of seats for students and spectators wanting to watch the surgeons perform. The nurses wore full-length Victorian gowns while the surgeons wore their own clothes protected by an apron.

Working bare-handed with unsterile instruments and supplies, and using packed gauze made of sweepings from the floors of cotton mills were the norms for the Leith Hospital operating theatre back in 1886.

At the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, wards looked more akin to grand open-plan hotel lobbies – as our picture in 1891 shows. No surprise then that such luxuries were only available to the few who could afford to pay for it.

The NHS – celebrating its 60th birthday today – born of the idea that good health care should be available to all, regardless of wealth, put an end to that. With it came huge advances in care, treatment, technology and, of course, life expectancy.

With a long and proud heritage of medical treatment, the Capital has witnessed three centuries of evolving hospitals and medical treatments.

The former Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place is now luxury flats, and the new state-of-the-art ERI has taken up residence at Little France, providing all forms of care under one roof. Previously the Capital's hospitals were dotted across the city.

Longmore hospital was opened in 1875 and became the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Incurables in 1903, catering for people deemed incurable and in need of constant medical supervision. In 1948, the hospital became part of Edinburgh Southern Hospitals Board of Management. It closed in the 1990s.

In 1959 medical experts at the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Morningside, long synonymous with brave new methods of rehabilitation, had a miniature coal mine built on the hospital premises – at the time one in four miners was suffering from industrial injuries.

The aim: to instil confidence and improve physical stamina so the miners could return to work.

Sun lamp treatment was also given to children at the Sick Kid's Hospital for skin disorders during the 1950s.

It was once thought that fresh air was the best thing for patients with conditions such as TB and bone disease. When the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital at Fairmilehead opened in 1932, several wards had only three walls, the south-facing side left open.

In 1958, nursing staff at the hospital took patients outside to watch a special performance from members of the Tattoo. In 1960, the nurses were again caught on film taking patients outside to bask in the spring sunshine. In 1966 Lady Hoare, the then mayoress of London opened a unit devoted to a orthopaedic problem of the time, Thalidomide.

Our picture of Christmas 1967 shows a teams of nurses from the Sick Kid's singing carols to passers-by and entertaining the children.

But the biggest change is arguably in the work of the nurses, who today are among the most overworked professionals and sadly have less time to spend with patients.