Fulbourn Hospital

Infobox Hospital
Name = PAGENAME
Org/Group = Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust


Caption =

Location = Cambridge
Region = Cambridgeshire
State = England
Country = UK
HealthCare = NHS
Type = Specialist
Speciality = Psychiatric Hospital
Emergency = No A&E
Affiliation= University of Cambridge
Beds =
Founded = 1858
Closed =
Website = http://www.cambsmentalhealthinfo.nhs.uk/services/sthcambs/hospital_services.html
Wiki-Links = |

Fulbourn Hospital, known as the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum for Cambridgeshire, the Isle of Ely and the Borough of Cambridge at the time of its opening in 1858, is a mental health facility located between the Cambridgeshire villages of Fulbourn and Cherry Hinton, four to five miles (6–8 km) south-east of the centre of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Until recently the main Victorian building was used as a psychiatric hospital, while the 1960's Kent House to the west was built for acute mental health patients and the Ida Darwin Hospital to the east was developed for the mentally handicapped. The main buildings have now been transformed into a Business Park although some acute facilities remain. From 540 patients at the hospitals in 1981 this has now been considerably reduced, with so many ex-patients being moved into the community.

Wards at Fulbourn Hospital

Acute wards

*Adrian House Ward
*Friends Ward

Rehabilitation wards

*Burnet House
*No. 1 The Drive (closed)
*Cedar House

Forensic services

*George McKenzie House

Older peoples' services

*David Clarke House
*Denbigh Ward
*James Ward
*Springbank (closed)

Other services

*Department of Clinical Psychology
*Social Work Department
*Mental Health Chaplain
*Patients Leisure Centre
*Art Therapies Service
*Physiotherapy Department and Gym

History

The Lunacy Act 1845 and County Asylums Act 1845 mandated that all rate-levying authorities must provide a public asylum. In 1848 there was an agreement to set-up a pauper lunatic asylum between the Justices met in Quarter Session of the County and Borough of Cambridge and the Liberty of the Isle of Ely (later known as The Three Bodies) who would have to raise the money to pay for the Asylum. They set up a committee with representatives from the three authorities to be known as The Committee of Visitors. On 30 September 1856 Admiral The Earl of Hardwick, the Lord Lieutenant of the county and a member of the visitors committee, laid the foundation stone and the Asylum opened on 06 November 1858. This also served Huntingdonshire after 1939. [Roberts, Andrew [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/4_13_Ta.htm#Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire] Index of English and Welsh Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals, A Middlesex University resource, 2001]

A county asylum for Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Huntingdonshire was erected at Arlesey in 1858. It opened in 1860 and was known as the Three Counties Asylum. This became Fairfield Hospital in 1960 and finally closed in 1999. [Roberts, Andrew [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/4_13_Ta.htm#Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire] Index of English and Welsh Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals, A Middlesex University resource, 2001]

Patients from the then Soke of Peterborough, including the "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" John Clare, were committed to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum. In 1876, Northampton County Lunatic Asylum (later Northampton Mental Hospital, then St Crispin Hospital which closed in 1995) opened for pauper patients and the original general asylum changed its name to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum for the Middle and Upper Classes. This became St Andrew's Hospital for mental diseases in 1887. [Roberts, Andrew [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/4_13_Ta.htm#Northampton%20Lunatic%20Asylum Northamptonshire] Index of English and Welsh Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals, A Middlesex University resource, 2001]

International prominence

During the 1960s, Fulbourn Hospital became internationally prominent for its pioneering therapeutic community, under Dr. David Clark, who was the last holder of the title of Medical Superintendent, and later Consultant for the Cambridge Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service. [Clark, David H. [http://human-nature.com/free-associations/clark/ "The story of a mental hospital: Fulbourn, 1858–1983"] Process Press, London, 1996]

Recent developments

The Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trusts have been carrying out a public consultation exercise into cost-cutting measures designed to reduce the budget by £3 million. The plan recommends the closure of No. 1 The Drive, and The Gatehouse units by the end of March 2006, and Cedars Ward by early 2007. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/4645260.stm Mental health cuts are unveiled] BBC News, 25 January 2006 16:52 GMT]

References

ee also

*Edith Cavell Hospital

External links

* [http://www.cambsmh.nhs.uk/ Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust]
* [http://www.fofhc.org.uk/ Friends of Fulbourn Hospital]
* [http://www.cambsmentalhealthinfo.nhs.uk/ Cambs Mental Health Info]