St Michael's Hospital

A small community hospital on the northern slopes of the Bathgate Hills in West Lothian, St. Michael's Hospital is located off Edinburgh Road, a half-mile (0.8 km) east southeast of the centre of Linlithgow. Accommodating up to thirty patients in small wards and private rooms, it specialises in short-term recuperation, respite and end-of-life care. Patients are usually elderly, with day-to-day care provided by local general-practitioners, supported by external consultants as required. St. Michael's is managed by NHS Lothian, with its catering, laundry and maintenance services provided by St. John's Hospital in Livingston.

The hospital lies next to the site of the former Linlithgow Combination Poorhouse, a Scots Baronial construction which opened in 1856 at a cost of almost £9000. Offering accommodation to 230 paupers, it was a collaborative development involving eight adjacent parishes; namely Abercorn, Bathgate, Borrowstounness, Carriden, Kirkliston, Linlithgow, Muiravonside and Whitburn. Two-storey wings extended from a three storey main block, with male inmates in one wing and females in the other, with administration and the Governor's Quarters between. An infectious diseases hospital was built nearby in 1900 and the two institutions joined in 1932 becoming St. Michael's Home and Hospital, administered by the County Council. The original poorhouse building was demolished in 1969 and the hospital took on its current function in 1971.


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