On 5 July 1948 Hairmyres Hospital was transferred to the Western Regional Hospital Board, one of five regional boards created in Scotland under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947. In the years following the war, there was little investment in hospital buildings in Britain. Plans to upgrade Hairmyres to District General Hospital status were shelved. By 1950 the number of beds had fallen to 450, about two-thirds of the number envisaged in the 1945 survey. The New Town of East Kilbride was established in 1947 within a mile of Hairmyres Hospital, creating an increasing demand. The 1966 Lanarkshire Hospital Development Plan proposed two district hospitals in Lanarkshire, one in Motherwell and the other in Airdrie. There were no major development plans for Hairmyres. However, the hospital was to continue to have acute admitting facilities with "a functional relationship" with a Glasgow teaching hospital. This dependence was felt to be unsatisfactory by staff. Hairmyres had to wait until the establishment of Lanarkshire Health Board before any major redevelopment could begin.