Welcome to the ECED website

ECED delivers care in diabetes and endocrinology across NHS Lothian, through outpatient clinics and specialist inpatient teams.  ECED is a unified service operating across the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE), Western General Hospital (WGH) and St John's Hospital (SJH), as well as being affiliated with colleagues in paediatrics (Royal Hospital for Children & Young People), endocrine and transplant surgery (Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh), neurosurgery (Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh), reproductive endocrinology (Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh), oncology (Western General Hospital)  and ophthalmology (Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion). 

ECED is a focus for the provision of high-quality multi-disciplinary care.  This unified centre facilitates service development, quality improvement, training and education in endocrinology and diabetes in Edinburgh and the Lothians.  

What is Endocrinology?

Endocrinology is the study of hormones.  Hormones are chemicals which are produced by a variety of glands and travel in the circulation (blood stream) to exert their effects, often upon a range of different organ systems. The most common endocrine disorder is diabetes (diabetes mellitus) which results from a deficiency of the hormone insulin.   Other endocrine conditions include disease of the thyroid gland, pituitary gland and adrenal glands.  Further information is available in the ‘patient information and support’ section.

Clinics overview

General diabetes clinics are provided at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, St John's Hospital, East Lothian Community Hospital (Haddington) and the Leith Community Treatment Centre.   General endocrine clinics are provided at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital and St Johns Hospital .  A full account of the clinics (including subspecialty clinics) offered by ECED is available by selecting the individual ‘diabetes clinics’ or ‘endocrine clinics’ tabs, above.