§ Sir E. HUME-WILLIAMSasked the Minister of Health (1) whether the hostels recently started for the reception of ex-service mental patients are entirely distinct and apart from lunatic asylums; whether the hostels are provided with recreation grounds and games; and what medical staff is employed at each;
(2) how many hostels, other than asylums, for the reception of ex-service mental patients have been started, where they are situated, and how many men are now under treatment in them?
Mr. ROBERTSI have been asked to reply. Under the existing law, I have no 715W power to establish or control institutions for the treatment of pensioners certified to be insane, except under powers vested in some existing licensee or Local Authority. As previously announced to the House, the Government has made special arrangements for a selected number of certified cases of a hopeful type likely to make progress under special treatment. Accommodation for 150 such cases is provided at the Old Manor, Salisbury, and for a further 300 at Kirkburton, a detached block of Storthes Hall Asylum, near Huddersfield. At the former institution there are two medical officers and in the latter three, in addition to the medical superintendent of the main asylum. In both institutions ample facilities are provided for recreation and games, and at the latter there is a welfare officer, whose special duty it is to look after the general welfare of the patients, apart from the purely medical treatment. As regards those mental cases which are not certifiable under the Lunacy Law, it has always been the policy of my Department to provide special treatment and accommodation with a view to their complete recovery. To that end, the Ministry have given special training to a number of medical officers and established throughout the country neurological hospitals and clinics where skilled treatment on the most approved modern lines is provided. These efforts have, I am glad to say, met with conspicuous success; for instance, as is shown by returns for a recent quarter, the percentage of those patients discharged recovered or improved is about 70, while in one hospital devoted to the most serious cases, out of 134 patients treated during a year, 68 were discharged recovered, while of the remainder a number had shown considerable improvement. At all these hospitals full provision is made for the recreation, amusement and occupation of these patients under a welfare officer.
These hospitals, numbering 19, are situate at
- Edenhall, Edinburgh.
- Shotley Bridge, Gateshead.
- Oulton Hall, Leeds.
- Mossley Hill, Lancs.
- Maghull, near Liverpool.
- Harrowby Camp, near Grantham.
- Ashton Court, Bristol
- Bath
- Fernbank, near Roehampton.
716 - Ewell, Surrey.
- Orpington, Kent.
- Richmond, Surrey.
- Sidcup, Kent.
- Leopardstowm, Co. Dublin.
- Saltash, near Plymouth.
- Romford, Essex.
- Craigavon, Belfast.
- Latchmere, Surrey.
- Rotherfield Court, Henley-on-Thames.
The approximate number of beds is 3,024. The number of men under treatment on 31st January was 2,772. The total number of medical officers dealing with the treatment of these cases is 67.