IT has its roots in the work of Florence Nightingale.

More than five decades after the death of the founder of modern nursing in 1910, Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary became the first hospital in Scotland to set up a dedicated ward for the most critically ill patients.

And this week staff marked its 50th anniversary.

The GRI was one of the first hospitals in the UK to focus care for the critically ill, those requiring life-support or an intense level of care, in 1966.

The original eight-bedded intensive care unit in the hospital was opened as ward 25.

As medicine and treatment for patients needing critical care changed and improved, the unit was cut to a seven-bedded unit, as more space was required at each bed for life-sustaining equipment.

In 2004, the unit moved from ward 25 to its current location in the hospital and returned to being an eight-bedded unit.

Then eight years later the unit expanded and amalgamated with the ICU from Stobhill and today is now state-of-the-art 20-bedded mixed ICU and high dependency unit with 120 nursing staff, 13 consultants and
a dedicated team of physiotherapist, pharmacists and dieticians.

More than 25,000 patients have received life-saving
treatment in the unit since it opened.

Jonathan Best, director north sector, added: “Medicine has come a long way since 1966 and 50 years of providing intensive care to the people of Glasgow and beyond is a [cause for] celebration for staff both past and present.”

The principle of intensive care dates as far back as 1854, when Florence Nightingale left for a Crimean War, where triage used to separate
seriously wounded soldiers from the less-seriously injured, was observed.

Her experiences during the war formed the foundation for her later discovery of the importance of sanitary conditions in hospitals, a critical component of intensive care.

In 1950, anaesthesiologist Peter Safar established the concept of “Advanced Support of Life”, keeping patients sedated and ventilated in an intensive care environment.  

Safar is considered to be the first practitioner of intensive care medicine as a speciality.