The Hairmyres site was well suited, being accessible from major centres of population, yet set in a hillside over 500 feet above sea level and with its own supply of fresh food.

The farm had a herd of tuberculin-tested Ayrshire cows, supplying milk butter and a source of income from the sale of calves.

By the end of the decade there was a new treatment block that included two operating theatres, a radiology department, two gymnasia and a new pharmacy.

Hairmyres, with its rural location yet good road and rail links was considered an ideal site.

Servicemen from Britain, France, Poland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia were patients, with a small number of wounded German and Italian prisoners of war.

[1] Tuberculosis sanatoria concentrated on therapy involving a nutritious diet, exposure to fresh air and sunshine and graduated physical exercise.

The staff, insisting that complete physical and mental rest was essential for effective treatment, confiscated his typewriter.

He suffered severe side effects from his treatment, and although the disease was responding, it had to be stopped after fifty days.

In July 1948 he returned to his rented house on Jura but his health gradually deteriorated and he moved to a sanatorium in the Cotswolds and died in January 1950 in University College Hospital, London, aged 46.

The New Town of East Kilbride was established in 1947 within one mile (two kilometres) of Hairmyres Hospital, creating an increasing demand.

Over the following years, the new Lanarkshire Health Board transformed the status of Hairmyres to the advantage of the local community.

An increase in specialisation meant patients no longer had to travel to one of the Glasgow teaching hospitals for treatment.

Services were moved into the new building in March 2001 and the hospital officially opened by Henry McLeish in September 2001.

The level two hospital would have a nurse-led Minor Injuries Unit, along with planned surgery, full diagnostic/outpatient services and general medicine.

[8] The decision to downgrade was widely criticised, with the former Home Secretary, John Reid MP, voicing his disapproval of the plans.

[12] In 2009 NHS Lanarkshire developed seven possible combinations of keeping three A+E departments open; these were subsequently delivered for public scrutiny.