Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is the largest hospital in NHS Grampian, located on the Foresterhill site in Aberdeen. ARI is a teaching hospital with around 900 inpatient beds, offering tertiary care for a population of over 600,000 across the North of Scotland. It offers all medical specialities with the exception of heart and liver transplants.ResearchThere are close links with the University of Aberdeen's medical school and there has been pioneering research in many fields, including the development of MRI and PET scanning. A new PET scanner was installed in 2006.It has been one of the centres evaluating telemedicine equipment and developing services in Scotland.FacilitiesThe granite ARI buildings on the Foresterhill site were designed by James Brown Nicol in 1927. The hospital was officially opened on 23 September 1936 by the Duke and Duchess of York, with the first patients admitted a month later.In 1984, a hyperbaric oxygen unit was built for the treatment of decompression illness.In 1986, a new £550,000 out-patient eye clinic was opened. This can provide corrective laser eye surgery.