CONDITIONS IN MENTAL HOSPITALS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The correspondence which has been appearing in your columns on the conditions which prevail in mental hospitals is at least heartening in so far as it indicates the interest which is now being taken in the problem of mental health.
The magnitude of this problem has only recently been obtain- ing recognition, and we must all agree on one thing at least, namely, that the facilities for the treatment of the early recover- able . able case are woefully inadequate in this country at the present time.
The majority of civilised countries have long since seen the establishment of psychiatric clinics, either closely affiliated to, or an integral part of, their teaching hospital system. The advantages of this arrangement are obvious. Patients are eager to undergo psychiatric treatment when this can be obtained without the supposed stigma of entrance to a mental
hospital, and when they know there will be no question of compulsory detention. There are facilities for investigation in a general hospital with its trained staff of specialists which cannot be obtained elsewhere. Finally, doctors have an opportunity of seeing during their student days the type of case which will subsequently form a very substantial part of their practice.
In this country the enterprise of the London County Council has established the Maundsley Hospital, which is our only psychiatric clinic as the term would be understood abroad ; but there is no teaching hospital in Great Britain which possesses a psychiatric clinic of adequate size and scope as an integral part of its activities, though clearly such a department should be as necessary a part of a general hospital as is a children's clinic or a maternity ward.
To us at St. George's these arguments seem to be indisputable, and we have decided to include a large In-patient psychiatric unit in the new hospital to be built at Hyde Park Corner. We do not doubt that in time others will follow our lead in so logical a reform, which must result in the better and more intelligent treatment of the mental case throughout the country.
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