St Andrew's Hospital

File:Northampton-County-Lunatic-Asylum.png

The facility was founded by public subscription for "private and pauper lunatics" and opened as the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum on 1 August 1838.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=1616&page=18|title=St Andrew's Hospital|publisher=National Archives|accessdate=19 October 2018}} Thomas Octavius Prichard was appointed as the hospital's first medical superintendent: he was one of the pioneers of "moral management", the humane treatment of the mentally ill.Foss, p. 28 The chapel was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and opened in 1863.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1039745|desc=Chapel, St Andrew's Hospital}}

It became St Andrew's Hospital for Mental Diseases in the 1930s and elected to remain a charity rather than joining the National Health Service in 1948.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-20043037|title=St Andrew's Healthcare in plan for £52m Northampton unit|publisher=BBC|date=23 October 2012|accessdate=19 October 2018}}

In 2017, Channel 4 Dispatches aired Under Lock and Key,{{Cite news|url=https://www.rethink.org/media-centre/2017/03/lock-and-key|title=Channel 4 Dispatches|publisher=Rethink Mental Illness|access-date=13 October 2018|language=en}} which highlighted that people with learning disabilities and autism were being kept in secure hospitals, in concerning conditions. The show detailed the experiences of several former patients at St Andrew's Hospital. Concerns included the use of restraint, seclusion and frequent sedation, with one patient remaining mostly in segregation for 22 months, in a room with minimal natural light.  It was also revealed that four patients had died on one ward between October 2010 and May 2011 and that all had been prescribed Clozapine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk/cbf-articles/latest-news/c4dispatches.html|title=Channel 4 Broadcast Dispatches Under Lock and Key|publisher=The Challenging Behaviour Foundation|access-date=19 October 2018}} Information that highlighted the role of the use of Clozapine in the deaths of these patients was not shared with the coroner at the initial inquest into one of the deaths.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jul/07/call-inquiry-deaths-psychiatric-hospital|title=Call for inquiry into deaths of four men at psychiatric hospital|last=Doward|first=Jamie|date=6 July 2013|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=13 October 2018}} After the programme's broadcast, St Andrew's issued a statement refuting the allegations that appeared in the programme.{{Cite web|url=https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/northampton-mental-health-hospital-speaks-out-after-channel-four-documentary-1-7846119|title=Northampton mental health hospital speaks out after Channel Four documentary|website=www.northamptonchron.co.uk|date=2 March 2017 |language=en|access-date=2019-11-14}}

In 2018 the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services at the hospital was featured in a BBC Two documentary entitled Girls on the Edge. The programme followed three families whose adolescent daughters had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 to protect them from harming themselves. The film, made by Dragonfly Film and Television,{{Cite web|url=https://www.dragonfly.tv/|title=Dragonfly|website=www.dragonfly.tv|access-date=2019-11-14}} won a Mind Media Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/winners-of-the-virgin-money-giving-mind-media-awards-2018-revealed/|title=Winners of the Virgin Money Giving Mind Media Awards 2018 revealed|website=www.mind.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-11-14}}

In 2018, the father of a girl who has autism and anxiety won a court case against Walsall Council, who had sought to prevent him from publicising details of the conditions his daughter was being detained under, in St Andrew's Hospital. His daughter was being kept in a 12 ft by 10 ft room, with a mattress and chair, with family members being forced to communicate with her via a hole in the metal door, which she was also being fed through. An earlier assessment had concluded that "the current setting is not able to satisfactorily meet her individual care needs" and a recommendation was made suggesting she be moved to a residential setting in the community with high support, but she continued to remain in the conditions, whilst her father was forced to defend legal action taken by Walsall Council to stop him publicly discussing his daughter and the conditions she was being detained under, at St Andrew's Hospital.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/father-beats-legal-bid-to-silence-him-over-autistic-girl-in-hospital-cell-0qhkkg2v8|title=Father beats legal bid to silence him over autistic girl in hospital 'cell'|last=Social Affairs Editor|first=Greg Hurst|date=2018-10-13|work=The Times|access-date=2018-10-13|language=en|issn=0140-0460}}

St Andrew's Chief Executive, Katie Fisher, has spoken publicly about the challenges the hospital faces when discharging patients, as there is a lack of suitable community places for people to move on to. In May 2019, Fisher told the BBC that the organisation "has up to 50 patients stuck in secure units".{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48364784|title=Up to 50 patients stuck in secure units|last=Phillips|first=Noel|date=2019-05-23|access-date=2019-11-14|language=en-GB}}

• Malcolm Arnold, British composer{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/sep/25/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1|title=Obituary: Sir Malcolm Arnold|work=The Guardian|date=25 September 2006|accessdate=19 October 2018}}
• Frank Bruno, boxer{{cite web|url=https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/boxing-hero-frank-bruno-has-spoken-out-about-his-time-in-st-andrew-s-hospital-in-northampton-1-4366925|title=Boxing hero Frank Bruno has spoken out about his time in St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton|date=14 October 2012|publisher=Northampton Chronicle|accessdate=7 December 2018}}
• John Clare, the "Northamptonshire peasant poet"{{cite web|title='The borough of Northampton: Description', in A History of the County of Northampton|volume=3|first= William |last=Page |location=London, 1930|pages=30–40|publisher=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/northants/vol3/pp30-40|accessdate= 19 October 2018}}
• Louis de Zoysa, convicted of the 2020 murder of Matt Ratana, a Metropolitan Police sergeant{{Cite news |date=2023-04-28 |title=Sgt Matiu Ratana: Man denies murdering Met Police officer |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-60584038 |access-date=2023-06-24}}
• Frank Foster, Warwickshire and England cricketer{{cite news |title=Sad story of Frank Foster, Ashes hero that time forgot |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/sad-story-of-frank-foster-ashes-hero-that-time-forgot-2283798.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/sad-story-of-frank-foster-ashes-hero-that-time-forgot-2283798.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |author=Stephen Brenkley |work=The Independent |location=London |date=14 May 2011 |accessdate=5 May 2019}}
• Violet Gibson, Irish woman who shot Mussolini{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hometruths/20060410_mussolini.shtml |title=Mussolini's nose|publisher= |accessdate= 8 July 2014}}
• Josef Hassid, the Polish violinist{{cite web|url=http://www.psychosurgery.org/2005/07/josef-hassid.html |title=Josef Hassid |publisher=psychosurgery.org |date=1 July 2005 |accessdate=8 August 2012}}
• Lucia Joyce, daughter of James Joyce, stayed here from 1951 until her death in 1982{{cite news|author=Sean O'Hagan |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,,1217671,00.html |title=Private dancer |work=The Guardian |date= 16 May 2004|accessdate=8 August 2012 |location=London}}
• The Ven. David Roberts, Archdeacon of Monmouth from 1926 to 1930'Obituary' The Times London, England Tuesday, Aug. 27, 1935 Issue 47153 p13
• George Gilbert Scott junior, architect (son of the designer of the chapel){{cite news|author=Jonathan Glancey |url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,1169,856635,00.html |title=The man between |work=The Guardian |date= 9 December 2002|accessdate=8 August 2012 |location=London}}
• Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, spent her last 15 years of life in the hospital{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/8303256/Gladys-Duchess-of-Marlborough-the-aristocrat-with-attitude.html |title=Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough: the aristocrat with attitude|publisher=The Telegraph|accessdate=19 October 2018}}
• James Kenneth Stephen, poet{{cite web|url=http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/310.html |publisher=University of Toronto - Representative Poetry Online|title=James Kenneth Stephen}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015194922/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/310.html |date=15 October 2009}}

{{reflist}}

• {{citation| first1=Arthur|last1=Foss|first2=Kerith Lloyd Kinsey|last2= Trick|title=St. Andrew's Hospital Northampton: the first 150 years, 1838-1988|publisher= Granta Editions|year= 1989|isbn=0906782449}}

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Category:Private hospitals in the United Kingdom

Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1838

Category:Psychiatric hospitals in England

Category:Hospitals in Northampton