David George
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[c]
The Closure of Central Hospital, Hatton, Warwickshire My thesis will examine the closure of the mental hospital at Hatton (a former Victorian pauper lunatic asylum) one of many such institutions that were closed at the end of the twentieth century. The process will be considered in the context of the development of national policies for the provision of alternative facilities for mentally ill people and the co-operation and collaboration between the local agencies charged with the implementation of these policies. The debate on national policies will include reference to the Worcester Development Project (1969 to 1983) a joint exercise between the Department of Health and Social Security and the local health and social services authorities to provide what was described as a ‘test bed’ for the proposed changes in services for the mentally ill. The thesis will conclude with a discussion of the process of closure as it applied to Central Hospital and an analysis of the patient population in terms of their age, nature of illness and length of stay, effects of the decline in numbers and the nature of the placements of discharged patients. As well as the extensive literature on the subject, it will be possible to refer to a wide range of sources such as parliamentary papers, annual reports, correspondence between the various agencies involved, local and national newspapers and professional journals. Sources will include the National Archive, British Library, County Record Offices, the Wellcome Trust plus the accounts of professionals and administrators involved in the processes discussed in the thesis. Although it is now ten years since the hospital at Hatton closed there are still former patients and members of staff living locally and it is my aim to undertake some oral history. Should anyone involved in the closure of the hospital wish to contact me I should be very pleased to hear from them. Supervisors: Dr Mathew Thomson and Professor Colin Jones David George
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County of Warwickshire Lunatic Asylum, Hatton (Centre Block) (source: Jeremy Taylor, Hospital & Asylum Architecture in England 1840-1914)
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