The Story of Nursing in British Mental Hospitals: Echoes from the Corridors

339 Pages·2016·3.192 MB·English

by  Niall McCrae, Peter Nolan

The Story of Nursing in British
Mental Hospitals
From their beginnings as the asylum attendants of the nineteenth century, mental
health nurses have come a long way. This is the first comprehensive history of
mental health nursing in Britain in over twenty years, and during this period the
landscape has transformed as the large institutions have been replaced by services
in the community. McCrae and Nolan examine how the role of mental health
nursing has evolved in a social and professional context, brought to life by an
abundance of anecdotal accounts.
The nine chronologically ordered chapters follow the development from
untrained attendants in the pauper lunatic asylums to the professionally qualified
nurses of the twentieth century, and, finally, consider the rundown and closure of
the mental hospitals from nurses’ perspectives. Throughout, the argument is made
that while the training, organisation and environment of mental health nursing
has changed, the aim has remained essentially the same: to nurture a therapeutic
relationship with people in distress.
McCrae and Nolan look forward as well as back, and highlight significant
messages for the future of mental health care. For mental health nursing to be
meaningfully directed, we must first understand the place from which this field has
developed. This scholarly but accessible book is aimed at anyone with an interest
in mental health or social history, and will also act as a useful resource for policy-
makers, managers and mental health workers.
Niall McCrae is a lecturer in mental health nursing at Florence Nightingale
Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London. As well as the history of
mental health care, his research interests include the therapeutic role of the nurse,
and evaluation of training and treatment innovations in psychiatric services. His
previous book, The Moon and Madness, examining the legendary notion of lunar
influence on behaviour, featured on the BBC radio series, All in the Mind.
Peter Nolan has worked for over fifty years in various capacities within mental
health services, both in the UK and abroad. The focus of much of his research
has been on how service users make sense of mental health services and the
degree of understanding they bring to what is being provided. Though now
retired, he continues to write about how and whether people with mental health
problems benefit from interventions, how nurses interpret what they do and the
likely changes that services will undergo in the future. He has a long-term interest
in the evolution of psychiatric ideas and practices and the various factors that
influence them. This book, he believes, is important in enabling the voices of the
predecessors of mental health nurses to be heard, voices that for too long have
been silent.
Routledge Key Themes in Health and Society
Available titles include: Forthcoming titles include:
Turning Troubles into Problems Social Theory and Nursing
Clientization in human services Edited by Martin Lipscomb
Edited by Jaber F. Gubrium and Margaretha
Järvinen Identity, Ageing and Cultural
Adaptation
Compassionate Communities Understanding longevity in
Case studies from Britain and Europe crossdisciplinary perspective
Edited by Klaus Wegleitner, Katharina Simon Biggs
Heimerl & Allan Kellehear
Exploring Evidence-based Practice
Debates and challenges in nursing
Edited by Martin Lipscomb
On the Politics of Ignorance in
Nursing and Healthcare
Knowing ignorance
Amélie Perron and Trudy Rudge
Living with Mental Disorder
Insights from qualitative research
Jacqueline Corcoran
Empowerment
A critique
Kenneth McLaughlin
The Story of Nursing in British
Mental Hospitals
Echoes from the corridors
Niall McCrae and Peter Nolan
The Story of Nursing in
British Mental Hospitals
Echoes from the corridors
Niall McCrae and Peter Nolan
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 N. McCrae and P. Nolan
The right of Niall McCrae and Peter Nolan to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCrae, Niall, author.
The story of nursing in British mental hospitals : echoes from the
corridors / Niall McCrae and Peter Nolan.
p. ; cm. – (Routledge key themes in health and society)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Nolan, Peter, 1942– , author. II. Title. III. Series: Routledge key
themes in health and society.
[DNLM: 1. Psychiatric Nursing – history – Great Britain.
2. Deinstitutionalization – history – Great Britain. 3. History, 19th
Century – Great Britain. 4. History, 20th Century – Great Britain.
5. Hospitals, Psychiatric – history – Great Britain. WY 11 FA1]
RC450.G7
362.2’10941-dc23 2015034994
ISBN: 978-0-415-73895-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-81702-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Baskerville
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
‘Niall McCrae and Peter Nolan have considerable expertise in the history
of mental health services. The “readability” of their book is one of its most
pleasing features and the authors have the skill of making the complex simple
and fascinating. This book, while of interest to mental health nurses, should be
required reading for all members of the multi-professional mental healthcare
team. Entering the mental health professions today without knowing their
histories would be like starting a journey without a map. This book is one of the
best maps of the historical terrain that I have come across.’
– Hugh McKenna, Professor, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation)
University of Ulster, UK
‘At last, due credit to nurses who devoted their careers to the vulnerable in an
impoverished yet caring environment: good work was done.’
– Jo Brand, comedian and former psychiatric nurse
‘A thought provoking and comprehensive history of mental health nursing
based on a rich variety of sources, this is a detailed, far ranging and accessible
overview. McCrae and Nolan have produced what should become the seminal
work on the history of British mental health nursing.’
– Claire Chatterton, Chair, RCN History of Nursing Society, UK
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of illustrations vii
List of tables ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xv
1 The pauper palace and its servants 1
2 Professionalisation, or organised labour 43
3 Shocks to the system 76
4 Interregnum 113
5 A new dawn 138
6 Time is called 163
7 Irish days, Mauritian nights 207
8 Holding the fort 227
9 End of the asylum 257

Appendix: mental hospitals in Great Britain 287
References 296
Index 313
Illustrations
Figures
0.1 A portrait of Peter Nolan, drawn by a West Park patient in 1973 xi
1.1 Diet table at Nottingham Asylum, 1874 35
2.1 The Epsom Cluster 47
2.2 An edition of Asylum News 54
3.1 Advertisement for nurses, Graylingwell 93
Plates
1 Built to last: Sussex Asylum, Hayward’s Heath 130
2 Chapel, Sussex Asylum 130
3 Attendants at Littlemore Mental Hospital (1930s) 131
4 Nurse’s badge, Severalls (1930s) 131
5 Insulin coma therapy at Graylingwell (1950s) 132
6 Student nurse Brenda Billings receives award at Graylingwell
(c1960) 132
7 An institutional childhood: psychiatrist’s daughter (and future nurse)
Fiona Couper at Digby Hospital, Exeter (1960) 133
8 Chief male nurse Ronnie Newman (retired) at Roundway
Hospital, Wiltshire (1995) 133
9 Tom Chan at Christmas meal for single foreign nurses, Park
Prewett (1967) 134
10 Peter Robinson, student nurse at Cane Hill (1967) 134
11 Actress Prunella Scales at Netherne summer fête (1967) 135
12 Miss Netherne 1974: Spanish nursing assistant Carmen Otega 135
13 London mental hospitals football league match at Netherne
(1970s) 136
14 Graylingwell cricket team (1980s): nurse John Pay holding trophy 136
15 Ian Norman (with long hair) and colleagues at Phoenix House,
Long Grove (1974) 137
16 Senior nursing officer and nurses celebrating patient’s 104th
birthday party at Netherne (1970s) 137
Tables
1.1 County asylums, 1844 13
1.2 Size of county and borough asylums 29
3.1 Forces for and against change 108
5.1 Male and female population at Rubery Hill and Hollymoor, 1954 142
6.1 Admissions, discharges and deaths in 1966 at selected mental
hospitals 173
6.2 Staff nurses and charge nurses in mental hospitals (1964) 181
6.3 Full-time psychiatric nursing workforce 197
6.4 Full-time qualified nursing workforce 197
8.1 Mental hospitals in England with over 1,500 beds (1975) 228