Lothian Health Services Archive
Address:
Lothian Health Services Archive
Centre for Research Collections
Edinburgh University Main Library
30 George Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9LJ
Website:
Phone number:
+44 (0)131 650 3392
Email address:
Social Media:
Facebook: Lothian Health Services Archive
Instagram: @lothianhealthservicesarchive
Opening hours:
Staff hours: Monday-Friday, 9am – 5pm
Reading Room hours: Monday, Closed. Tuesday-Wednesday, 10am-6:30pm. Thursday-Friday, 10am-4pm
Access:
A reading room facility is available in the Centre for Research Collections where LHSA material can be consulted free of charge. We also offer a remote enquiry service.
LHSA holds a significant amount of material which is confidential, for example the records of patients, staff, and medical and nursing students. LHSA ensures the security of confidential records and manages access in accordance with relevant legislation and guidance, including the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care, data protection legislation and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Readers are not permitted to take their own images of LHSA records in the reading room.
Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA) holds the historically important local records of NHS hospitals and other health-related material. It collects, preserves and catalogues these records and promotes them to increase understanding of the history of health and for the benefit of all. LHSA is core funded by NHS Lothian and project funded by a variety of institutions, including the Wellcome Trust. LHSA is part of the University of Edinburgh’s Heritge Collections and was awarded Accredited Archive Status in 2014.
A variety of NHS clinical and non-clinical records are held dating from 1770 and 1594 respectively. This rich collection also includes c.1 million folder-based clinical case notes and c.40,000 images, along with older printed books, pamphlets, objects, artwork and a small quantity of digital assets.
The significance of LHSA's Edinburgh and Lothian HIV/AIDS Collections has been recognised by a 2011 inscription to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register (www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/source/HIVAIDS_index.htm).
