I used to be a patient for many years on William Parsey Ward and Alfred Miller Ward (the acute wards), William James Ward, and the rehab ward of Lady Jane Grey Ward. Central Hospital had exceptional staff, and it was beautiful grounds too. I was also at Church Hill House in Leamington Spa. I knew Charley Craig as he was the charge nurse of Churchill House when I was a previous service user – I knew his wife Theresa Craig as she was a former staff nurse, one of my named nurses I previously had on the acute wards of Central Hospital.
Yes we had birthday and Christmas parties, and trips out in the Ford minibus to the Yew Tree House in Leamington Spa on a Friday evening, and then on Sunday we went in the minibus with Tom Gamble the activity coordinator, picking people up from their homes. We also went from our hospital to go to the Mulberry Day Centre in Stratford upon Avon.
A sad day
I was at Central Hospital till the very day it closed its doors for good – a very sad day, it was one of the best hospitals I was ever sent to, a real community feeling about the place. There were friendly nurses, porters and nursing assistants, in fact all the nurses that I knew were friendly & treated us former patients really well.
I know it’s now been turned into housing, it’s nice they didn’t knock it down and I know it was a listed building, beautiful grounds in the middle of the Warwickshire countryside.
A move
We moved up to the new St Michael’s Hospital in Warwick. It was a much smaller brand new build with the same staff as we had in Central Hospital, but obviously not very big grounds. That’s what a lot of the former patients missed once Central Hospital shut its doors for good. We lost a good hospital, we gained a brand new one which was nice, but no grounds like we had back in the Central Hospital days – it’s that what a lot of former patients missed. I had some happy memories of Central Hospital, even though I spent years as an inpatient.
The two care houses down the front entrance and The NSF [National Schizophrenia Foundation] houses were also in the grounds, as was the chapel and the WRVS [Women’s Royal Voluntary Service] shop we had. They sold small cups of tea for 10 pence, coffee was 15 pence. They also sold rich tea biscuits, pop and crisps in those days, so very different to how it is now.
Central Hospital was one of best ones out there in my view.
Comments
I’m trying to find a copy of a publication on Central Hospital which included some photos of the staff, particularly Nrse Hickman. I did purchase a publication from the Records Office, but I can’t find it….can you help? I’m particularly interested in a certain photo(s) that include Nurse Hickman.
My Grandmother worked at Central in the early 1930s does anyone know if any staff lists from this period still exist please?
Dorothy Beatrice Dalton
I have a photo of nurses presentation and there is a nurse Hickman in this photo
Hi, if anybody would like to find information bout staff or patients, your first port of call is to contact the County Record Office at recordoffice@warwickshire.gov.uk They will be able to advise what they have available, and what the process is.
I worked at Central Hospital as a ward sister, in the late 70’s. I had previously trained, qualified and worked at a progressive university teaching hospital. When I stepped into Central Hospital, It was an awful shock, I felt I had stepped into a Dickens novel. Not because of the age of the building, the hospital I’d left had original buildings from when it had been originally established in 1813. it was the internal facilities, the ethos and the attitudes of both the staff on the ward I was given charge of and the senior staff in charge of the hospital.
Whilst I am delighted to read that patients and other staff have good memories of Central Hospital I have to say that it was definitely not my experience. The institutionalisation was rife and for older people (referred to as geriatrics then) I found little in the way for empathy, understanding, genuine care or respect. Whilst these are all skills and characteristics that can be developed and nurtured, in such and environment it needs support from senior staff and those holding the purse strings. Sadly, it wasn’t forthcoming, there was no drive or support to improve things from seniors, so for me as professional with the energy and ambition to improve life for those in my care it was a dead end.
I gave up my nursing career after two years at Central and moved into social services where I found all the opportunities and support to improve life for the same vulnerable demographic. When I heard it was to close I was pleased BUT it soon became apparent that the outside ‘community’ was far from the safe haven Central Hospital had been for younger long stay patients with chronic mental illnesses. The Community Care Act which prompted the closure had taken a practice and rejected it in its entirety (when there was part of it that was good) for an untested concept. Classic ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ purely to cut costs and as we see time and again the funding and supply of mental health services is woefully inadequate. But that’s a whole other story.
I found your comment interesting and sobering Gill. I wonder how many people didn’t know any different to compare the care, certainly further back in time. The aim towards self sufficiency was quite progressive though.. I discovered that my great Uncle landed up there in 1939. I suspect it was syphilis. On the death certificate it says 1(a) general paralysis. Would you know what the 1(a) part refers to?
Their was a good atmosphere at Central hospital alot of the staff where caring towards us former patients I had some good experiences of caring staff it was one of the better asylums out their in my view … You hear alot of bad stories about other ones I’d been to a few other asylums long before I got sent to Central hospital Hatton Warwickshire & the other was in Birmingham but Central hospital was by far the better one out of the two of them.. & everyone who I knew we all got on well it was more like a community than a hospital ..Pantomimes where my favourite especially at Christmas & Easter time as the patients & former staff put on a Pantomime each & every year in costume for the local community we normally had friends & family & people attend to see our .plays well did ..It was the best part as we all got a part & it was positive as the staff joined in too … So you didn’t feel the odd one out ..Doing Pantomimes we all looked forward too it each time we did one … Alot of the nurses lived in the grounds many of the former staff did… We all knew one another .. It was a close knit community at Central hospital…
My grandfather Joseph Henry Whiting work at the hospital in the late 1920’s and l think for many years afterwards. I would love to find out more about him especially a photo as due to my his marriage to my grand mother Josephine, often known as Paddy, did not last.
I (a) refers to medical certificate form to be completed by a medical practitioner (?Medical Certificate for Registration of Death). I(a) is the principal cause of death and I(b) would be factor/disease contributing to I(a). There might be I(c) but I can’t remember. II was other conditions present but unrelated to the cause of death. The certificate is required so that the death may be registered by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages and a death certicate issued.
‘General Paralysis’ or ‘General Paralysis of the Insane’, ‘GPI’, was end stage syphilis or quaternary syphilis which affected the brain. From memory,10% of patients in British mental hospitals at the start of the Great War had GPI as the main diagnosis.
I’ve enjoyed reading these memories of Central Hospital. I am especially interested in the years from 1920 to 1941, when my grandparents both worked there as nurses. My grandmother was Evelyn Walker (later Phillips). My grandfather Bertie Phillips became the Head Attendant in the late 1930s, and lived in one of the Staff Cottages in the grounds. He died suddenly in 1941, at the age of 45 years. If anyone has any information about the hospital at this time, I’d love to hear it.
Thank you Michael Bamber, for answering my query about the 1(a) after the Paralysis cause of death entry. I have only returned to this site again still in my search for that same query! None of us further down the family tree knew about the demise of this man (one of my grandmother’s brothers) though he was spoken of. Such stigma I guess. Fortunately he didn’t marry .
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