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Broadmoor Hospital

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Broadmoor Hospital is located in the United Kingdom
Broadmoor Hospital
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Location of Broadmoor Hospital at grid reference SU8464 in the United Kingdom

Broadmoor Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the English county of Berkshire. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton. Scotland has a similar institution, located at Carstairs, officially known as The State Hospital; also called Carstairs Hospital.

The Broadmoor complex houses about 260 patients all of whom are men since the female service closed in September 2007, with most of the women moving to a new service in Ealing, a few moving to the national high secure service for women at Rampton and a small number transferring elsewhere. At any one time there are also approximately 36 patients on trial leave at other units. Most of the patients there suffer from severe mental illness. Many of the patients also have personality disorders. Most have either been convicted of serious crimes, or been found unfit to plead in a trial for such crimes. The average stay is about 8 years.

The catchment area for the hospital has recently undergone some rationalization of the London area and now serves all of the NHS Regions: London, Eastern, South East, South West.

Of the therapies available is the arts, and patients are encouraged to participate in the Koestler Awards Scheme.[1]

History

Previously known as the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane, the change of name reflects a change in attitude to mental illness and criminals, and usage of the word "asylum".

The hospital was built in 1863 to a design by Sir Joshua Jebb, and covers 210,000 square metres (53 acres) within its secure perimeter.

Due to the potentially violent nature of some of the patients the hospital has an alarm system, which is activated if any dangerous patient escapes to alert people in the vicinity—including those in the surrounding towns of Sandhurst, Wokingham, Bracknell and Bagshot. This alarm system is based on World War II air-raid sirens, and a two-tone alarm sounds across the whole area in the event of an escape. The system is tested every Monday morning at 10am for two minutes, after which a single tone 'all-clear' is sounded for a further two minutes. During the early 1990s at least one nearby school maintained, and on occasion used, procedures designed to ensure, in the event of a Broadmoor escape, that no child was ever out of the direct supervision of a member of staff.

As well as providing patient care Broadmoor is also a centre for training and research.

Following the Peter Fallon QC inquiry into Ashworth Special Hospital, which found (amongst other things) serious concerns about security and abuses that came about from poor management, it was decided to review the security at all three special hospitals. This review was made the personal responsibility of Sir Alan Langlands who at the time was Chief Executive of the National Health Service. Up until this time, each special hospital was responsible for drawing up its own security policies. The report which came out of the review initiated a new partnership to be formed whereby the Department of Health sets out a policy of safety and security directions that all three special hospitals need to adhere to. These directions are then updated or modified when it is seen fit to do so. This has resulted in a costly upgrade in the physical security at Broadmoor from what was approximately category 'C' to category 'B' prison standards. Higher levels of security than this are then placed around certain buildings. Up until then, it had been anathema to think of enclosing the mentally ill behind razor wire and thereby reinforcing the stigma against them. Also, new standards have been formulated to increase procedural security and safety for the staff and other patients; this includes procedures and equipment for reducing the amount of contraband smuggled into the hospital.

Governance

The previous Broadmoor Hospital Authority was dissolved on 31 March 2001.[2] Then on the 1st of April 2001 West London Mental Health (NHS) Trust took over the resposibility for this hospital. This Trust reports to the NHS Executive through the London Strategic Health Authority.

Current research

A new unit called the Paddock Centre was opened on the 12th December 2005 to treat patients with a dangerous severe personality disorder (DSPD).[3] This is a new and much debated diagnosis or label, that is comprised of two criteria: firstly that the individual be 'dangerous', i.e. that they are considered to be or represent a 'Grave and Immediate Danger' to the general public. It has been suggested that the threshold for this criterion be set at a greater than 50% chance of that individual committing serious harm upon another, from which the victim is unlikely to recover.

The second part of the DSPD criteria requires that the individual must suffer from a 'severe personality disorder'[citation needed], meaning that he or she has:

  1. A diagnosis of two or more personality disorders that meet the criteria as laid out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM IV –TR; or
  2. A significant score (i.e. 30 or higher) on the Hare Psychopathy Check list – Revised (PCL-R); or
  3. A slightly lower score (i.e. 25 to 29) on the Hare Psychopathy Check list and with one or more personality disorders but not including an Antisocial personality disorder diagnosis.

Rather than create a new Mental Health Act, it may now only require the existing laws to be updated in order that people can be assessed for this condition before they have been committed to the forensic services by another route. The DSPD service in the Paddock Centre will be limited to males, as it is not yet scientifically agreed as to whether any women meet this criterion.

Individuals who do meet this criterion will be admitted to the new Paddocks unit only as and when sufficient staff have been trained, to be able to provide and maintain the right therapeutic programs and environment. The Paddock Centre is designed to eventually house 72 patients and is just one of four units being set up in England and Wales. The architects were Oxford Architects LLP [1]

As the West London Mental Health NHS Trust already carries out research, the Trust hopes that Broadmoor will become a centre of learning for this new type of therapy. The ultimate aim of this work is to reduce the cost to society that would accrue if no treatment was provided.

Notable patients of Broadmoor Hospital

References

  1. ^ Writer Arthur Koestler founded this charity with the aim of promoting the arts in special institutions, encouraging creativity and the acquisition of new skills. See "The Koestler Trust". Retrieved 2007-05-17.
  2. ^ National Archives, Office of Public Sector Information. Broadmoor Hospital Authority (Abolition) Order 2001. ISBN 0 11 029108 5. Accessed 2007-06-14
  3. ^ "Dangerous & Severe Personality Disorder Programme". National Personality Disorder Organisation (UK). Retrieved 2007-05-15.

Further reading

  • Dell, Susanne (1988). Sentenced to hospital: offenders in Broadmoor. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019712156X. OCLC 17546264. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Dewey Class 365/.942294 19. Sum: authors describe the treatment of some Broadmoor patients and together with their psychiatric and criminal histories.
  • Partridge, Ralph (1953). Broadmoor: A History of Criminal Lunacy and its Problems. London: Chato and Windus. OCLC 14663968.
  • The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2006).First steps to work – a study at Broadmoor Hospital (119KB). Accessed 2007-06-15

See also

51°22′09″N 0°46′43″W / 51.369128°N 0.778720°W / 51.369128; -0.778720

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