Haunting images show a last look inside the now empty wards and halls of Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary.

The building closed last year when services migrated to the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, with the structure now set to be turned into housing.

Most of the contents in the building have been removed but there are still overhead lights in operating theatres, call buttons for nurses and even steel tables left in the morgue.

Images taken in the hospital show eerily empty corridors with messages scrawled on the walls by departing staff.

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In what was the reception of A&E, stickers warning people not to use mobile phones remain on the wall, while someone has written: “It was great knowing you, love A&E staff, 16th May 2015” on the wall, before the word “not” was added in using a different coloured pen.

Images taken in the hospital show eerily empty corridors with messages scrawled on the walls by departing staff. SWNS

The empty wards make for atmospheric images, though in some of the photographs, it would seem not all of the hospital’s patients have left the building.

Some eagle-eyed people have caught sight of a ‘ghostly’ figure standing in the doorway in our top picture of the disused morgue.

Is that a ‘ghostly’ figure of a man in the hospital morgue? SWNS

During its lifetime, thousands of patients, nurses and doctors walked through its doors, earning its place in the hearts of the local population as ‘The Vicky’.

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When the hospital first started treating patients in 1866, Glasgow was in crisis.

The health of the population was awful with child death rates high and adult lifespan short.

Clean drinking water, better sewers and public baths were the answer, as was the introduction of brand new hospitals like the Victoria.

The Victoria Infirmary was opened at a cost of £16,880 on February 14, 1890 by the Duke of Argyll. SWNS

After considering a number of sites, including Eglinton Toll, Kinning Park and Govan Toll, Glasgow Council eventually offered 4.5 acres of land on the edge of Queen’s Park – the site of the Battle of Langside – at a reduced price of five shillings per square yard (£1210 per acre).

In its early years, life on the wards was regimented with strict rules for patients and fierce ward matrons – if you crossed them you were ejected.

Queen Victoria gave her backing after learning the new hospital was to be named in her honour. SWNS

The original medical team was small. There were two resident doctors and six visiting consultants, including Dr Ebenezer Duncan, who had campaigned to set up the hospital.

Consultants were not paid for their work at the hospital. Their incomes came from the private patients they saw in the afternoons.

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The nurses were managed by the matron, Miss Ross, who had previously worked at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Her team was made up of four sisters, four staff nurses, three night nurses and four student nurses.

Most of the contents in the building have been removed. SWNS

Most illnesses were treated except infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases and the DTs (delirium tremens).

From November 1890 to October 1891 the hospital admitted 860 patients and performed 276 operations.

The most common diseases treated in the first year of opening are recorded as disease of lungs, disease of heart and blood vessels and rheumatic fever.

Most illnesses were treated except infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases and the DTs (delirium tremens). SWNS

During the war the Victoria continued working but on a reduced scale, partly because two wards were set aside for casualties and partly due to staff leaving for war service.

After the war, life returned to normal.

In July 1948 the Victoria Infirmary became part of the NHS and the impact was dramatic.

People who had not been able to afford healthcare now expected treatment and the workload soared.

Between 2000 and 2004 all the wards were fully renovated but it was soon realised that the Victorian buildings that had so well served the people of the south side of Glasgow for so long had finally reached the limit of their adaptability.

In July 1948 the Victoria Infirmary became part of the NHS and the impact was dramatic. SWNS

The Victoria finally shut its doors on hospital life as the new, state of the art Queen Elizabeth University Hospital opened in its place in July 2015.

It is still set to provide some comfort for Glasgow residents though, this time in the form of housing for families, first-time and older buyers.

Peter Martin, director of development, said: “Our plans are to retain the key heritage features of the site while delivering a beautiful place to live.

“The development will also create much needed jobs and we look forward to beginning this exciting project.”