Annual reports for the two years 1st April 1951 to 31st March 1953 / The Cassel Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders.

  • Cassel Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders (Richmond, England)
Date:
[1953?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual reports for the two years 1st April 1951 to 31st March 1953 / The Cassel Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/24 (page 16)
    Conclusion To conclude, the hospital's work during the period has steadily improved in quality in spite of the diffi¬ culties of shortage of medical staff. This improve¬ ment is the result of the work of many people and is the product of the enthusiasm and hard work not of one, but of all sections of the staff. I have to thank my medical colleagues for the enthusiasm with which they have developed the hospital during this period. In addition I have also to thank Miss Mallion, the Hospital Management Committee Secretary and my own Principal Administrative Officer ; Miss Brady, Senior Psychologist ; Mr. Piper, Finance Officer ; and the Matron, Miss Weddell. The sections in this report dealing with Administration and Nursing, the financial diagrams and the compilation of the Statistical Tables are the work of these officers. Lastly, I must record my gratitude to the Manage¬ ment Committee for the ready understanding and personal support I have always received from them. STATISTICAL TABLES These are largely self-explanatory. Tables 1 {pages 16 and 17). Some two-thirds of the patients who completed treatment were females; this proportion has been maintained throughout the hospital’s history. No valid explanation for this can be offered. It is certainly not true that neurosis is twice as common in women as in men. It is possible that economic factors are responsible for women accepting hospital treatment twice as frequently as men. Tables 2 {pages 16 and 17). The majority of patients are referred by consultants and come from regions other than that in which the hospital is set. Tables 4 {pages 16 and 18). Over half of the patients discharged had been in other hospitals before. This table is a pointer to the great cost to the Health Ser¬ vice of neurotic illness. It also suggests that the cure of a certain patient even by expensive fundamental methods may be a better investment for the nation than temporising with minor treatments. Tables 5 {pages 17 and 18) show the type of treat¬ ment the patients discharged had received before ad¬ mission to the hospital. As the hospital population is decidedly a selected sample, no deduction can be made from the figures about the general success or failure of any of the treatments concerned. Rather, the figures indicate the kind of clinical material that was admitted to the hospital during the periods in question. Tables 8 {pages 17 and 18) show the results of the treatment (based upon clinical assessment) at the time of discharge. Few deductions can be made from this table, for no reliable follow-up has been carried out on the patients concerned and it is unknown how long these results would last. Tables 9 {pages 17 and 18) show that of the patients referred during the period in question, only about half were accepted for treatment. DISCHARGES—Period 1st April, 1951 to 31st March, 1952 TABLE I. No. of Patients Discharged :— F. M. Total 71 44 115 TABLE 2. Sources :— General Practitioners Consultants 22% 78% Areas :— 1. Newcastle ... 2 2. Leeds . 4 3. Sheffield . . 7 4. East Anglian . 4 5. North-West Metropolitan .21 6. North-East Metropolitan . 14 7. South-East Metropolitan .13 8. South-West Metropolitan .31 9. Oxford . 1 10. South Western . 3 11. Welsh . 3 12. Birmingham . 3 13. Manchester ... . 4 14. Liverpool . 1 Scotland 2 Channel Islands . i Denmark . i Total 115 TABLE 3. Diagnostic Categories :— Anxiety Neurosis Hysteria ... Anxiety Hysteria Obsessional Neurosis Depressive State ... Manic Depressive Psychosis Paranoid State ... Schizoid Personality Schizoid State Schizophrenia Addiction ... Character Disorder Asthma Speech Defect Epilepsy ... Cerebral Organic State ... 15 24 14 13 19 1 2 6 1 5 1 9 1 1 2 1 Total .115 TABLE 4. Previous Hospitalisation :— Mental Hospital ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 Neurosis Centre ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 General Hospital-O.P. Psychiatric Treatment ... ... 35 Tavistock Clinic ... ... ... ... ... ... ... — Private Psychiatrist ... ... ... ... ...- ... 10 Army Psychiatrist ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Nursing Home ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 Private Mental Hospital ... ... ... ... ... 1 Cassel Hospital ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 Child Guidance Clinic ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Total ... ... 84 Total Hospitalisations = 84. — No. of patients involved = 65. Many had 2 or 3 hospitalisations. 56.5% of total discharge had previous hospitalisation.