The Hospitals of the Highlands – the list
(January 2021)
The date shown is when the hospital was first opened and they are listed under their original function. See also the page Highland Wartime Hospitals.
General and Cottage Hospitals
Royal Northern Infirmary 1804
Was main regional hospital. Now Community.
Town and County Nairn 1847
New build in 1906. Now Community.
Belford, Fort William 1865
Replaced with a new build on a new site in 1965.
Strath, Gairloch
Small local short lived hospital.
Gesto, Edinbane, Skye 1878
Closed 2006 and in-patients transferred to Portree.
Ross Memorial, Dingwall 1873
Now mainly Community but also has Rheumatology which was transferred from the Nicholson Mackenzie Hospital in Strathpeffer.
Invergarry 1880
Never more than a base for the district nurse. Closed 1950.
Dunbar, Thurso 1885
Almshouse until 1920s. Important for maternity in the 1960s and 1970s. Now Community.
Ian Charles, Grantown 1885
New maternity wing in 1923. One of the first hospitals in Scotland to have doctor's surgery attached. Now Community.
Cromarty 1894
District nurse was also matron. Many naval cases until the end of WW1. Mainly maternity from the 1930s. Closed 1953.
Lawson Memorial, Golspie 1900
Retained surgical services until the 1990s. Cambusavie wing opened in 1989 and Cambusavie Hospital in-patients transferred. Now Community.
Bignold, Wick 1903
Empasis on surgery. Closed 1986 and in-patients transferred to Caithness General.
John Martin, Uig, Skye 1907
Mainly maternity by 1940s. In-patients transferred to Portree in 1964.
Mackinnon, Broadford 1914
Did all surgery in Skye from the 1950s. Major expansion in 1960s.
Pope, Helmsdale 1935
Closed 1939. Reopened 1949-74 for maternity but too small to be viable.
Portree 1964
Maternity and geriatric.
Caithness General 1966
Opened as Caithness Central. Major expansion 1985.
Infectious Diseases (ID)
Main ID Hospitals
Wick Combination 1849
Started off in disused flax mill then moved to Harrow Park in 1866. Replaced by Town and County in 1910.
Citadel, Inverness 1877
Cholera, smallpox and later TB. Unused by 1920s.
Burnside, Thurso 1892
Constructed earlier but lay unused. Closed 1911.
Lochaber Fever Hospital 1893
In the gounds of Belford Hospital. Burned down in 1901 and rebuilt.
Ross Memorial, Portree 1894
Closed to admissions by early 1950s. Closed 1965.
Ballachulish ID 1901
Geriatric by 1950. Closed 1953.
Cambusavie, Sutherland 1906
Geriatric by 1970. In-patients transferred to Lawson in 1989.
Meadowside, Kincraig 1906
Unused by mid 1930s. Sold for residential 1960
Nairn 1910
Used former Town & County building.
Town and County, Wick 1910
Now Geriatric and Community.
County, Invergordon 1917
Naval until 1921, mainly TB until 1970s then Geriatric and now Community.
Culduthel, Inverness 1917
Became main specialist fever hospital for the Highlands. Closed 1990.
Small Emergency ID Hospitals
Dunbeath 1849
Temporary for cholera outbreak.
Helmsdale 1880
Occupied part of a disused distillery
Invergordon Cholera Hospital
Erected during a 'scare' and dimantled the following year.
Berriedale 1894
Cottage converted by Duke of Portland with residential nurse.
Hospital Vans 1890s
Mobile hosptals used in Skye and on Black Isle.
Hawkhill, Rosemarkie 1897
House set aside to contain cases of typhoid locally.
Battengorm, Carrbridge 1898
Set up for railway construction workers. Closed by 1900.
Achmore, Daviot 1893
Set up for railway construction workers. Closed by 1900.
Smallpox, Wick 1901
Closed by 1930.
Smallpox, Waternish 1904
Possibly never used. Destroyed in gale in 1919.
Victoria, Fort William 1904
Closed 1930s.
Lochcarron 1907
Closed by mid 1930s.
Smallpox, Nigg 1920
Opened to deal with smallpox outbreak at Fortrose. Closed the same year.
Pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB)
Grampian Sanatorium (St Vincents) 1901
Geriatric from 1956 when it was renamed St Vincents.
Inverness-shire Sanatorium 1907
Very remote and rarely fully utilised. Closed 1951.
Seaforth, Maryburgh 1907
Children’s hospital after 1922. Children’s home 1949-80s.
Maternity Hospitals
Families Hospital Fort George 1913
Closed 1956.
Ida Merry, Inverness 1926
Closed 1940 when Rosedene opened.
Henderson Memorial 1931
Closed 1980. Geriatric only after 1978.
General Pope, Helmsdale 1935
Not exclusively maternity until reopened by NHS in 1949.
Rosedene, Inverness 1940
Closed 1951 when Raigmore maternity wards opened.
Poorhouses
Inverness 1846
In Dunbar’s Hospital. Muirfield from 1861. Became Hilton Hospital.
Easter Ross Combination 1850
Became Arthurville, Tain. Closed 1980s.
Skye Union, Portree 1859
Closed 1930. Became school hostel.
Black Isle Combination, Fortrose 1860
Later named Ness House. Closed 1944. Patients to Arthurville.
Thurso Combination 1860
Closed 1918.
New Inverness Poorhouse 1861
At Muirfield.
Nairn Union 1861
Became Balblair Home. Closed late 1970s.
Latheron Combination 1863
Closed 1950.
Sutherland Combination (Swordale) 1865
Became Migdale Hospital. New building 2010.
Mental Health
Englishton Asylum 1859
Small private asylum. Closed 1866
Craig Dunain 1864
Closed 2000.
Craig Phadrig 1969
Closed 2000.
New Craigs 2000
Wartime (temporary hospitals listed separately)
Glencoe House 1941
Maternity 1948-56 then general (mainly geriatric later). Closed 2009.
Raigmore 1941
Site of all major expansion since 1948.
Forse House 1940
RAF Auxiliary hospital. Post war residential home from 1947.
Convalescent Homes
Nairn (Northern Counties) Convalescent Home 1882
New building in 1893. Closed 2004.
Bona Convalescent Home 1894
Closely linked to RNI. Closed 1918.
Industry Linked
Foyers, Inverness 1895
For workers at aluminium plant but also for community e.g. to isolate typhoid.
Kinlochleven Hospital 1906
3 wards attached to the village surgery for casualty and sick aluminium workers.
Corriechoille, Lochaber 1924
18 bed field hospital for hydro power scheme workers. Closed by 1940.
Fersit, Lochaber 1930
24 bed field hospital for hydro power scheme workers. Closed by 1940.
Railway Construction Linked
Battengorm, Carrbridge 1893
For fever among railway workers. Closed by 1900.
St Josephs, Fort Augustus 1898
Possibly an extension of an earlier facility run by the Abbey.
Rannoch 1898
Field Hospital for railway construction workers.
Crianlarich 1898
Field Hospital for railway construction workers.
Polnish, Lochailort 1898
Field Hospital for railway construction workers.
Others
Nicolson Mackenzie, Strathpeffer 1896
Rheumatism. Linked to Spa treatment initially. Closed 1993. Transferred to Ross Memorial.
Forbes Dispensary, Inverness 1832
Redundant with NHS. Closed 1949.
