Sir Henry Wade, who had served as a military surgeon in both the Boer War and the First World War, had been appointed surgical director of the Emergency Medical Service in Scotland and in that capacity was in charge of recruiting staff.

When the anticipated war casualties did not materialise, the beds were used for civilian patients on the surgical waiting lists of Edinburgh hospitals.

Patients with tuberculosis (TB) were transferred from elsewhere in south-east Scotland under the care of Professor Charles Cameron, and a ward block was designated for patients with bone and joint TB under the care of Mr (later Sir) Walter Mercer, who paid weekly visits to the hospital.

It was headed by Professor Norman Dott, who continued to operate there until the neurosurgical service transferred to a custom-built unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

The lead surgeon in plastic surgery and burns was Mr A B Wallace, who had trained under Sir Harold Gillies, and Gillies as consultant plastic surgeon to the army was a regular visitor to the unit.

[6] It is a method used to estimate the surface area involved in a burned patient and guide the volume of fluid replacement required.

[5] Further specialist units were opened, ophthalmology in 1955, ear, nose and throat in 1959 and care of the elderly in 1960.