Department of Child and Family Psychiatry

Memoranda, reports and research notes; draft papers and sample of admission forms.

1946-1989

1 box

There were plans to establish a residential psychiatric unit for children at Crichton Royal Hospital from 1948, but by 1950 the Regional Hospital Board decided it did not have the resources to fund such a unit. Physician Superintendent Dr P. K. McCowan decided to proceed with the endeavour alone. An existing hospital building, Ladyfield (renamed Ladyfield East), was utilised to establish a unit with accommodation for twenty children which opened in February 1951. It was the first residential children's unit in Scotland, the second in Britain and was named the Department of Child Psychiatry. The first Doctor involved with setting up Ladyfield was Dr Pinkerton, who left in 1952 and was replaced with Dr W. J. B. Rogers, under whom the unit gained a national reputation and who was appointed the hospital's first full time Child Psychiatrist. The unit soon expanded, first in 1953 taking over the use of Hannahfield Hall, previously used for staff and patient recreational purposes, and again in 1954 with the use of Hannahfield House (renamed Ladyfield West). Children with different needs were split between the three buildings, providing 55 beds for children from Scotland and the North of England. The unit was staffed by a full time teacher, nurses, psychiatric social workers, assistants and the children received treatment from the hospital's Occupational Therapy staff. In 1979 Ladyfield East was closed and a separate residential unit was established for mentally handicapped children as part of the NHS Mental Handicap Unit set up in the hospital grounds at Criffel View in 1980. In 1973 a twelve bed Adolescent Unit was opened in agreement with the Regional Board and located at Eskdale House providing out-patient and in-patient facilities. The Unit was later moved to the vacant Ladyfield East in 1984. Prior to investigations into a residential unit the provision of psychiatric care for children was being addressed in part through the Child Guidance Clinics run by Crichton Royal Hospital. The first Clinic was established in 1942 along with the adult Out-patient Clinic held at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. In 1946 further Child Guidance Clinics were set up in Castle Douglas and a Child Guidance Centre was established in Dumfries for the Stewartry and Dumfriesshire County Councils. The Department of Child Psychiatry staff also ran these out-patient facilities. From 1979 the department started to scale down their work with the decreased need for in-patient facilities. Hannahfield Hall closed in 1984/85, Ladyfield West closed in 1999 and Ladyfield East Adolescent Unit closed in 2001. Responsibility for in-patient services was transferred to Gartnaval Royal Hospital for adolescents and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow for children's services.

Department of Child Psychiatry Patient Records, DGH1/5/23; Child Guidance Clinic Records, DGH1/5/24/1; Articles and draft papers by various staff members, DGH1/6/13 ; Staff Publications, DGH1/6/18

Enquiries for reproduction for commercial purposes should be directed to the Archivist, Dumfries and Galloway Archives and Local Studies

The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.