A CAMPAIGNER vowed to continue her fight over the future of the Elsie
Inglis Memorial Hospital in Edinburgh built to honour one of Scotland's
greatest women medical pioneers after Lothian Health Board yesterday
agreed to sell the hospital, which closed several years ago, to a
private company, Reason Mutual, for more than #500,000.
Miss Helen Lowe, a chartered accountant in her 90s who still practises
from her office in Charlotte Square, was honorary treasurer of the
hospital at the time of its incorporation into the National Health
Service in 1948. She said: ''I think we will be looking at ways of
fighting the sale. We don't give in just as easy as that.''
Several higher bids were made from builders who wanted to demolish the
hospital. Edinburgh University Settlement also submitted a lower offer
to set up a variety of community based projects on the site. Miss Lowe
yesterday presented a petition to the Scottish Secretary in favour of
this option.
Miss Lowe was one of 10 women who in 1957 successfully forced the then
Scottish Secretary to overturn a decision to staff the hospital with
male consultants.
''I think Elsie Inglis herself would have gone for a charity like the
Settlement which would use it for charitable work,'' she added.
Reason Mutual was set up by four Edinburgh businessmen, with nursing
home and hotel interests, specifically to bid for the hospital. It plans
to turn it into a ''health care village'' with a 66-bed nursing home and
76 sheltered flats.
It would retain all listed buildings, memorial stones, and the garden
and new developments would be in keeping with the existing style and
scale. A chemist, hairdresser, and doctor's surgery are also planned as
part of a #1m project.
Mr Tom Saddler, who heads the consortium, said: ''It is a beautiful
site. It is just not just for health care of those who will stay there,
but we also want to provide facilities like a community centre for all
the local people.''
The hospital was built in the 1920s to honour Dr Elsie Inglis, who
opened a hospice for mother and children from slum areas and was an
inspirational leader of the Scottish Women's Hospitals Unit in Serbia
during the First World War.
Mr Ewan Small, spokesman for a local residents' group, said he was
disappointed at the rejection of the Settlement bid.
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