The Victoria Infirmary finally closed to the public on 22nd May 2015, after 125 years service to the Southside of Glasgow. The A&E department had locked its doors a week earlier at 8am on Saturday 16th May, and during the week the remaining patients, staff and equipment were moved to their new home in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The full history of the Infirmary can be found in the account published by NHS GGC at the time:
To mark five years since the closure, the following gallery is a collection of photographs taken on that final day, showing both the sorry state of some parts of the ageing building, and the affection in which it was held by the staff who worked there.
Image gallery
Click any image to start…
The memory tree, main entrance
And no it wasn't Dr Seuss, apparently
Multiple generations of audivisual display equipment. And that awful carpet.
The radiology department secret staff room, looking out over Battlefield
The resuscitation rooms in the Accident & Emergency Department. Many a life saved, but the ambulances don't call round here anymore.
Lifeblood of the department, and a career devoted to the Vic. Ultrasound, Floor D.
The Emergency Department, I think
Lab litter
Lead coats in the radiology department
The fluoroscopy room, Floor E.
A metaphor for the hospital?
Ward block and annexe from Sinclar Drive; the same shot as that taken in 1927 and seen in the Victoria Infirmary History book
Resus room, ED
The towers on the ward blocks
View from the corner of Sinclair Drive.
View from Queens Park
Another ward bites the dust
Floor E entrance opposite Queens Park, with the Victoria Panther prowling above the crest
Another ward ready for the movers
The Mansionhouse Unit, built 1971, but now gone, replaced by new housing
So long... (and tortuous according to the endoscopists)
Tears amid the blu tack
The Floor D corridor
An affectionate view towards Langside Library
Last orders in Cafe Fleuré
Forlorn and forgotten forensics
More wards gone forever
Rooftops
The glass bridge to the office block
Floor E entrance, with the panther. Ground floor at one end, yet on the fifth floor at the other. Endless confusion, happy days
The final ward round? No patients. But biscuits, probably.
So that's where my lead coat went...
Given this is a hospital, one hopes not.
An ode to the Vic - James Blunt would have been proud
Lesson for the day
Leaky roofs, rotten windows: not quite fit for the 21st century
The Accident & Emergency Department closed a week earlier, on 16th May 2015
Time for one last cup of tea?
Equipment awaiting transfer to QEUH
Floor D. Ward D, Ultrasound & the Stuart Davidson angiography suite.
The Emergency Department
Another ward now devoid of beds, patients, and staff
The Battlefield Rest, and the Victoria Annexe behind. The Annexe has since been demolished.
Not for much longer they won't
X-ray in A&E, and an autograph book of radiographers
Radiology reporting workstation, in what was once the urology department on Floor D
Keeps you fit...
The last remaining circular balconies. Will they be restored when the site reopens as housing?
The Battlefield Rest, and Langside College in the distance. The netting kept pigeons out of the rooms, given the holes in the windows rarely got repaired.
The Battlefield Rest, the former tram shelter, as seen from the radiology department, the latter now long demolished
Peace falls finally on the emergency department. It's doors never closed, until now.
Floor E entrance
Behind locked doors: Some parts of the Vic had been off limits for years, and it shows.
An old copy of Health News, found in the abandoned labs building. First impressions of the Victoria's replacement, the QEUH.
No point tidying up anymore
The departments slowly fade away
The labs on Floor D, long vacated
Portable x-ray machines, laid off due to lack of patients
The glass bridge. In need of painting, like everything else
Moribund microscopes
Farewell
The Porters, on a permanent lunch break
Radiology reception, Floor E.
Team Radiology, busy to the very end.
No more Nightingare Wards
The CT scanner at The Victoria. This machine still runs flat out in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital every day.
July 5, 2020 at 7:48 pm
I have fond memories of once having lunch in the consultants’ dining room in 1985 : white linen table cloths & napkins, full silver service, 3 courses with a glass of wine, and afterwards the gentlemen retired to the smoking room for their coffee & cigars.
Different world then.
July 7, 2020 at 10:47 pm
Before my time, and I was never so well looked after. They closed the dining room and sent us to the patients’ cafe, and by the end lunch was eaten at your desk while you carried on working!
January 4, 2023 at 5:19 pm
Lived in a house shared by nurses from the Victoria. Goodness they worked hard – but also partied hard. Great times back in the 60’s.
April 20, 2025 at 6:21 pm
I feel sad looking at these pictures , the place we loved devoid of life.
I stayed in B floor “new” nurses home in 1979 and yes we worked hard but also had such fun.
Much prefer nursing in nightingale wards , easy to see every patient .
I would do it all again .
Definitely different times now, just so glad to have experienced the Victoria Infirmary.
October 16, 2025 at 11:53 am
It´s such a sad feeling, My first house officer post was there, in Medicine, Dr Kesson was my caring consultant.