The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh or RIE, sometimes mistakenly referred to as Edinburgh Royal Infirmary or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and later on the Empire. It is currently run by NHS Lothian

NHS Lothian

NHS Lothian is one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Mid Lothian and West Lothian areas. Its headquarters are at Waverley Gate, Edinburgh-Headquarters:...

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John Munro, President of the Incorporation of Surgeons in 1712, set in motion a project to establish a "Seminary of Medical Education" in Edinburgh, of which a General Hospital was an integral part..