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Staff attitudes to a psychiatric hospital closure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nick Ardagh-Walter ,
Prakash Naik  and
David Tombs
Nick Ardagh-Walter*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic, B Floor, South Block, University Hospital, Nottingham NG7 2RD
Prakash Naik
Affiliation:
Lyndon Clinic, Hobs Meadow, Solihull, West Midlands B92 8PW
David Tombs
Affiliation:
Acute Psychiatric Unit, Derby City General Hospital, Derby DE22 3NE
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Many psychiatric hospitals in the UK have closed. Factors influencing staff morale around the time of a hospital closure will affect the functioning of that institution. This study surveyed staff anxieties, attitudes and expectations in a major psychiatric hospital three weeks prior to its closure. We found evidence of widespread denial despite energetic dissemination of information. There were also significant differences between staff groups. Our findings will have implications for the management of future hospital closures.

“We have to get it into our heads that a hospital is like a shell, a framework to contain certain processes, and when the processes are superseded, the shell must, most probably, be scrapped and the framework dismantled” (Enoch Powell, 1961).

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , March 1997 , pp. 139 - 141
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

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