Description: Looking from the tower block of the University towards the city centre, and showing the ring road in the foreground. Queen's Medical Centre, University Hospital, welcomed its first patient in August 1978. Construction began in 1971-2 (and was slightly delayed because of a building strike) at a cost of over £20 million. It was the first purpose-built teaching hospital in the UK, it brought together patient care, teaching and research under one roof. Queen's replaced five hospitals - the General, the Women's, the Children's, the Eye and Harlow Wood Orthopaedic Hospital. Queen's, together with Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust, provide hospital services to over 600,000 people and specialist services to over 2 million people. Queen's has an income of over £200 million, has over 1,300 beds and employs nearly 6,000 people.