Borders General Hospital

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Borders General Hospital (BGH), (locally known as the "BGH") is a district general hospital on the outskirts of Melrose, Scotland. It has 328 beds and offers a wide range of healthcare services.ServicesIt is the main hospital in the Scottish Borders and serves the counties of Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire, Peeblesshire and western Berwickshire. Other counties and Berwickshire are served by Berwick infirmary* and larger hospitals in the City of Edinburgh. It has an Accident and Emergency Department and a Macmillan Cancer Unit.The Hospital is governed by NHS Borders, its Director of Nursing and executive board whom are sited at the board's HQ in nearby Newstead. Beside the Hospital, within the grounds, is the NHS Borders education and conference centre which comprises lecture theatres, the training and professional development department, the IT suite and a comprehensive library.HistoryThe hospital was designed and built to replace the ageing and unfit "Peel Hospital" of Caddonfoot near Galashiels; the former hospital which served first as a wartime hospital during World War 2 and was later expanded in line with NHS introduction and population expansion in the Scottish Borders. The South-East Regional Hospital Board approved plans for a new 375-bed hospital at the Huntlyburn site. Borders General was built by John Laing & Son and opened in 1988 creating over 1000 jobs initially run by Borders General Hospital NHS Trust which was succeeded by NHS Borders.It was also home to the Scottish Borders Campus of Napier University nursing college up until their service withdrawal in 2010/11. Current care services include general-medical and general-surgical receiving and assessment wards, a Department of medicine for the elderly (DME) unit, a children's ward (Ward 15 Noah's Ark), ENT suite, audiology, pre/peri and post-natal wards with a labour suite, theatre, Emergency department, dementia assessment unit, gynaecology ward, cafe (operated by WRVS) and large outpatients suite.