(Left) One of the many psychiatric wards in the well tended expansive grounds of Bangour Village.
(Right) St John's, who's two psychiatric wards are situated amongst a maze of long corridors. The hospital itself surrounded by busy high speed roads.
I have been an in-patient in both hospitals and I feel that moving the ward from Bangour to St John's was one of the biggest mistakes made by the authorities. Bangour offered an extremely therapeutic environment and part of the recovery process was the ability to look out onto beautiful grounds and, when one was feeling better, to walk in these grounds. One could also walk down to the tea room and shop or simply sit out in the sun.
St. John's on the other hand offers no such facilities. Patients sit all day in the day room with little or nothing to do except support each other. A walk, if it occurs, means walking round a very bleak building since there is nowhere else to go and nowhere to sit in the sun.
I also feel that moving the ward into a general hospital has not served to integrate people with
mental health problems but rather alienate them and increase the stigma attached to the illness.
Margaret
Email: [email protected]