The Gilbert Bain Hosptial is a rural general hospital

Rural general hospital

The rural general hospital is a concept unique to the National Health Service in Scotland. A rural general hospital is a small hospital, similar to a district general hospital, that serves an area which is remote and rural, generally with a small population which would otherwise have a long or...

 in the burgh

Burgh

A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...

 of Lerwick

Lerwick

Lerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...

, Shetland, 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...

. It is one of two hospitals in Lerwick run by NHS Shetland

NHS Shetland

NHS Shetland is one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in the Shetland area. NHS Shetland is headquartered in Brevik House, Lerwick.NHS Shetland operates two hospitals:*Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick...

.

The hospital has consultant-led

Consultant (medicine)

In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior doctor who has completed all of his or her specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen specialty...

 general medical and general surgical

General surgery

General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g., intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland . They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft...

 services, a rehabilitation ward and a general practitioner

General practitioner

A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...

 and midwife-led maternity

Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...

 unit. Other specialities are provided by visiting consultants from NHS Grampian

NHS Grampian

NHS Grampian is one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 2004 by the amalgamation of Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust, Grampian Primary Care NHS Trust and Grampian Health Board. The health board's headquarters are located at Summerfield House in the Mastrick...

.

Ancillary services include a laboratory

Laboratory

A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...

 and a modern radiology

Radiology

Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...

 department. A CT scanner has recently been installed. There is also a Medical Physics

Medical physics

Medical physics is the application of physics to medicine. It generally concerns physics as applied to medical imaging and radiotherapy, although a medical physicist may also work in many other areas of healthcare...

department, responsible for maintaining the wide variety of medical equipment, in use, throughout NHS Shetland.