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14
Administration
of public
mental
hospitals.
Enquiry as to administration of mental hospitals.
39. Very careful and detailed consideration was given during 1922 and 1923
to the report (published in August, 1922) of the Departmental Committee appointed
to investigate charges contained in a book entitled "The experiences of an asylum
doctor" (see Annual Report for 1922, vol. II., p. 16). We reported to the Council
on 24th April, 1923, that in general the statements and criticisms in the book could
not be held to relate to the London mental hospitals, and discussed the criticisms
with regard to the number and training of assistant medical officers, the number of
trained hospital nurses and the monotony of diet as to which the Departmental
Committee thought there were some grounds as regards mental hospitals generally.
Seclusion
patients.
On one point the Council, on the Committee's recommendation, took action, by
asking the Board of Control to consider as to amplifying the definition of "seclusion"
of patients in mental hospitals given in the Board's 54th annual report (which is
limited to the "enforced isolation of a patient by day") to provide that enforced
isolation at any time shall come within the meaning of the term.
General
rules.
General rules.
40. Revised general rules for the management of the mental hospitals, approved
by the Council on 31st July, 1923, were approved by the Minister of Health on 5th
September, 1923, and are now operative.
Structural
alterations
and miscellaneous
information
Matters concerning individual mental hospitals.
41. The following paragraphs deal briefly with the more important alterations
carried out at the mental hospitals or decided upon during the twelve months under
review, with a few other items of information which concern individual hospitals.
42. Banstead. Progress has been made with the scheme for the modification
of the large chronic blocks referred to in the Annual Report for 1922 (vol. II.,
p. 17), and it is anticipated that the work will be commenced during the year
1925-26.
43. Cane Hill. Accommodation in the admission blocks on the male and
female sides will be increased by the addition to each of them of a single-room annexe
to contain ten beds. Additional verandahs will be provided for these blocks and
the airing courts in the female division will be rearranged. The estimated cost,
including equipment, is £7,600.
44. Claybury. It has been decided to establish new "admission units," to
consist on the male side of wards N1, N2, and Ml (after structural alterations),
with Claybury Hall as an admission hospital for suitable rate-aided patients as well
as for private patients, and on the female side of wards C1, C2, and B2 (after
structural alterations to block C), with a new detached one-storey admission hospital,
to accommodate 50 patients, to be built on a site apart from the main building.
Two wards in block S are to be allocated for use as accommodation for the less
hopeful type of male private patients, supplementing the accommodation now
available for private patients at Claybury Hall and improving the possibilities of
classification of such patients. The estimated cost, including equipment, is £31,000.
45. Colney Hatch. A special admission hospital villa for 40 male patients
will be built on the north side of the main building at an estimated cost, including
equipment, of £18,600.
Generally.
The Maudsley Hospital.
46. Full particulars as to the work carried out at the hospital (which admits
voluntary patients only) during the year ended 31st January, 1924, are contained
in the first annual report of the medical superintendent, which has been printed for
private circulation.