Fifty-second annual report of the Mental Hospital at Berry Wood, near Northampton, for the year ended December 31st, 1928 : with a statement of income and expenditure during the year ended 31st March 1929 / [Northampton County Mental Hospital].

  • Northampton County Mental Hospital.
Date:
[1929]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Fifty-second annual report of the Mental Hospital at Berry Wood, near Northampton, for the year ended December 31st, 1928 : with a statement of income and expenditure during the year ended 31st March 1929 / [Northampton County Mental Hospital]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The patients themselves were quiet, orderly and con¬ tented, and though we had many conversations and interviews of a semi-private character, no one asked to see us alone. We gave every one an opportunity of speaking to us and we believe that we saw all the patients who are now in residence. It appears from a return made to us to-day that the Hospital is over-full on the male side by 2 and that there are only 15 vacancies on the female side. In the light of these figures, the question of additional accommodation is uppermost in our minds. Rapidly increasing difficulty is being experienced practically all over the country, in securing vacancies, so that reliance on being able to board out is already unsafe and is likely to be more so. It seems, there¬ fore, indubitable that, even if building operations could be commenced here forthwith, they could not be completed before there is a pressing need for beds, and to such a number that were it allowed to be met by overcrowding would quickly be a menace to the health of the Institution. Confronted with such a situation and at the risk of being thought importunate, we feel it our duty strongly to urge the Com¬ mittee to consider the seriousness of the position ; and while the responsibility for meeting it is primarily a local one, we feel that our Board would gladly co-operate in thinking out how it can best be met with due regard to economy and efficiency. There are always many matters requiring preliminary consideration, and the getting out of plans to a stage at which our Board can, when desired, seek the Ministers’ consent to them, involves considerable time. We, therefore, venture to suggest to the Committee at once to get into touch with our Board on the matter so that the Committee