An operating theatre at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary c 1914, about five years after the opening of the new surgical block. The building was named the Robert and James Dick Block, in recognition of a gift of £80,000 from James Dick's estate towards the cost of rebuilding the infirmary.
Each of the six floors of the new block had its own operating theatre in the charge of a single surgeon. The theatre equipment remained unsophisticated by modern standards, but there had been rapid improvement in surgical skills and techniques and in understanding the nature of germs and infection since Joseph Lister's days at the Royal, and the post-operative death rate continued to fall.
Reference: RCPSG 28/78
Reproduced with the permission of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
Keywords:
Glasgow Royal Infirmary, nurses, operating theatres, Robert and James Dick Block, surgeons, surgery, surgical block, surgical operations, surgical theatres, voluntary hospitals