Fieldhead Hospital

Fieldhead Hospital is a psychiatric and learning disability hospital in Wakefield, United Kingdom. It is operated by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and was formerly operated by Wakefield and Pontefract Community Health Trust ^[1] prior to the current Trust being formed in 2002.

History

The hospital was opened on the 11th July 1972 by HRH Princess Alexandra and was operated by the Wakefield Hospital Management Committee.^[2] The hospital replaced older hospitals such as Oulton Hall, Hatfield Hall and Cardigan Hospital with a full range of facilities for patients with learning difficulties (referred to as 'mentally handicapped' at the time of opening) and cost around £2 million to construct.

Facilities included:^[3]

• 480 beds in wards for children, severely disabled children, adults and geriatrics
• Admission and assessment wards for adults and children
• Pre-discharge ward for 20 patients
• Infirmary for 20 patients
• School
• Social centre
• Industrial and occupational therapy unit
• Out-patient department
• Staff residential accommodation and garages
• Staff changing rooms
• Kitchen and dining accommodation
• Administrative offices

Each building, or 'villa', was designed for a category of resident i.e. children, adolescents, adults, geriatrics, or severely disabled and many were linked in pairs in order to have shared dining accommodation and day rooms. Residents who were bed-bound would be able to have sight of the activities taking part in the day rooms and each villa had a hobbies room along with baths, showers, changing and drying facilities and treatment rooms. Each villa had an internal courtyard with seating and on the west and southern aspects, a terraced area could be found.^[4]

The social centre, found at the end of a centrally located spine corridor which linked the admission and assessment units, children's unit and administration offices. The social centre contained facilities for the following:

• Large recreation hall with attached facilities for theatre production
• Film shows
• Shop
• Coffee bar
• Two television rooms
• Library
• Hairdressing salons
• Large workshops for heavy, medium and light occupations
• A small flat for domestic training
• Physiotherapy room
• Space for games (such as table tennis)

The villas were given names after local areas:^[5]

• Rothwell
• Brotherton
• Horbury
• Flockton
• Hemsworth
• Carleton
• Emley
• Oulton
• Shelley
• Ackworth
• Methley
• Wrenthorpe
• Crofton
• Tingley
• Sandal
• Shepley
• Royston

Developments in the late 20th century

In 1981, a regional secure unit ^[6] (now known as medium secure units) was built in the north east of the hospital site for patients suffering from mental illness who could not be looked after in prisons and this was called Newton Lodge. After the closure of Stanley Royd Hospital in 1995,^[7] pyschiatric care was moved to Fieldhead and the hospital became a psychiatric and learning disability hospital.

The site today

The majority of the hospital buildings have remained the same although the use of the buildings have changed dramatically; the former social centre is now a Learning and Development complex and many of the villas off the central spine corridor are now administration offices and a Trust Headquarters suite which houses the directors for the Trust.

The services and wards at Fieldhead are as follows: ^[8]

• Adult psychological therapies service
• Bretton Centre (Low-secure forensic)
• Briarfields (Electroconvulsive therapy and Clozapine clinic)
• Chantry Unit (elderly mental health treatment and assessment)
• Memory services
• Newhaven (Low-secure learning disability)
• Newton Lodge (Medium-secure forensic for Yorkshire and the Humber region)
• Outpatient department
• Priory 2 (inpatient mental health)
• Specialist forensic outreach team
• Trinity 1 (Psychiatric intensive-care unit)
• Trinity 2 (inpatient mental health)
• Horizon Centre (Learning Disability treatment and assessment)

Development of the Fieldhead site

The Trust has invested £16 million of its own capital in redeveloping the non-secure inpatient facilities at Fieldhead and the new facilities will include state of the art therapeutic areas, en-suite bathrooms and vastly improved patient relaxation areas. The development will see the demolition of the Chantry, Trinity and Priory Units to be replaced with a brand new building which will bring all the services offered by the three units under one roof along with the refurbishment of the Newhaven Unit. The development should be complete in 2018. ^[9]

Mental Health Museum

The Mental Health Museum (previously known as the Stephen Beaumont Museum of Mental Health) is located at the hospital. It contains artefacts and exhibits of the history of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum which was later known as Stanley Royd Hospital in Wakefield.^[10] Artefacts include restraining equipment, a padded cell, photographs, medical and surgical equipment, and documents. There is also a scale model of the original 1818 Stanley Royd Hospital, which was the museum's original location until the hospital closed in 1995.^[11][12]

See also

• List of hospitals in England

References

External links

• Official Trust website
• Fieldhead Hospital section of the Meanwood Park Hospital website