David Ainslie, who died in 1900, left £800,000 for the purpose of building and endowing a hospital or institution for convalescents from the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He wanted it to be called the Astley Ainslie Institution. The hospital opened with 34 beds in 1923. The site may have had a medical connection since the 1500s. The hospital joined the
National Health Service in 1948. The Charles Bell children's pavilion was completed in 1965 and the Cunningham Unit (a day centre and outpatient clinic) was completed in 1971. The centre provides 4,000 m2 of space and cost £7.5 million to construct, incorporating a number of environmentally friendly features. In 2014, the health board considered proposals to demolish the hospital and three others, with a view to replacing these facilities with care villages which would consist of buildings more suited to social care. By 2021, the campus site was proposed for sale in the late 2020s, provided funding could be obtained for replacement facilities at the
Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The value of the wooded parkland, that is open to the public, was recognised by the local
NHS Lothian health board. The Astley Ainslie Community Trust was set up to campaign to protect the trees in the site. Members of the trust include
Ian Rankin. The two thousand trees include some that are unusual in the UK such as
Atlas cedar,
wellingtonia,
cedar of Lebanon,
deodar cedar,
Bhutan pine and
Monterey cypress as well as many more common species of oaks, firs, cherry and chestnuts. Some are protected with
tree preservation orders. ==Services==