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review: institutional life

Institutional life opened up

A light was shone on the stories and legacies of institutions at
an exhibition about Calderstones and brockhall hospitals.
david O’driscoll viewed some service history Brockhall, 1993

“You’d Hear Them Jingle.” Views of However, another, who worked there in
Institutional Life. Voices from Brockhall the 1960s, said: “They were rough tough
Gill Cott: Dorimitory; barbara Perry: launch; Lancashire County Council museums Service: brockhall; melanie Sims: Doreen Jones
and Calderstones, Clitheroe Castle places, institutions. I can’t hand on heart
Museum, Lancashire say I’ve ever seen any extreme cruelty –
which I think is a tribute to the place given
ew of my colleagues working in the times – but it was hard. It was a hard,
learning disabilities today have hard place, and it sort of made you a bit
Fexperience of the long-stay hospitals hard as well, as time went by.
that once dominated our services. “You recognised how [staff] became
As a Hertfordshire NHS history project institutionalised themselves … they fit into
worker, I once made an unsuccessful this very cosy and pleasant place to work.”
attempt to develop an exhibition on the Herbert Carter, a Calderstones ex-resident, talks On resident said: “They used to give you
history of three local institutions (CL 30:3 to Tom McLean, a former divisional nursing Largactil [chlorpromazine] syrup … to
2017). So when I heard about an officer at Calderstones at the exhibition launch quieten and calm you down. It had a nasty,
exhibition on long-stay hospitals – You’d sweet taste. You got it for shouting and
Hear Them Jingle – I knew I had to see it. two long-stay hospitals, brockhall and arguing. It made you go to sleep – dopey.”
The title refers to a remark made by a Calderstones, which were a few miles apart. Dr Nigel Ingham developed the exhibition
former patient about staff coming down both opened after the First World War with the help of Professor Duncan Mitchell.
the corridor with their keys. and closed in the 1990s. both were major It was part of a project by Pathways
The exhibition examined the history of institutions holding up to 2,000 patients. Associates,
The exhibition featured oral history by supported by the
family members, patients and staff. Heritage Lottery
Memorabilia included nurses’ uniforms, Fund, to develop a
patient menus and, of course, keys. There digital archive:
was also a short film, made in 1968, about www.lancs
brockhall patient bill Howe (view it at www. learning disability
youtube.com/watch?v=LRFskr_5vHI). institutions.org.uk/
Views on the hospitals contrasted. One ● See pages 16-17
nurse recalled: “I think the staff, the
artisan staff, and the drivers and the Former Calderstones
laundry, they all cared about … staff and resident Doreen Jones
Dormitory at Calderstones, 1971 patients alike. everybody cared somehow.” as a girl, circa 1931

£1,019 per person). Relatively speaking, experience of doing any therapy work, problems much more widely available. n
both ways of helping people were not costly were providing each therapy to a high This project was led by Andrew Jahoda at
given that people were on average using standard. the University of Glasgow.
health and social care support costing well
over £20,000 per year per person. conclusions National Institute for Health and Care
views gathered through in-depth The types of therapies or psychological Excellence. NICE Guideline NG54: Mental
interviews with some of the participants interventions that are helpful for Health Problems In People with Learning
with learning disabilities, their supporters depressed people generally can be Disabilities: Prevention, Assessment and
and the therapists showed that almost adapted to work just as well for people Management. London: NICE. www.nice.org.
uk/ng54
everyone found the adapted therapies with learning disabilities.
engaging and helpful. They can make a difference to both Chris Hatton is
Supporters were generally felt to be people’s depression and to their lives professor of
useful both in and between the therapy more generally. public health
sessions, although social isolation made it The therapy is not expensive, and can and disability
hard for some people to find a consistent, be delivered and done well by community at Lancaster
reliable supporter. learning disability nurses as long as they University
Audio recordings of a selection of are trained and supervised.
therapy sessions showed that those There is every reason to make these
delivering the therapies, mainly learning and similar ways of helping people with
disability nurses with little or no learning disabilities and mental health

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 31 No 4 | Summer 2018 21