The Downshire Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Downshire) is a 16-bed
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...
at
Downpatrick
Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...
,
County Down,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, for both
psychiatric intensive-care patients and low secure rehabilitation.
History
The hospital, which was designed by Henry Smyth, was opened as the Down Lunatic Asylum in 1869.
It was extended in 1883, 1895 and 1904.
[ It became the Down Mental Hospital in the 1920s and joined the ]National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
as Downshire Hospital in 1948.[ Following the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and provision for patients reduced from over 300 beds to just 16. Part of the building was subsequently converted for use as offices for ]Down District Council
Down District Council was a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. It merged with Newry and Mourne District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Newry, Mourne and Down District C ...
who began operating there in October 2012.
References
Further reading
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Hospitals in County Down
Hospitals established in 1869
Psychiatric hospitals in Northern Ireland
Hospital buildings completed in 1869
Defunct hospitals in Northern Ireland
Hospitals disestablished in 2012
2012 disestablishments in Northern Ireland
19th-century architecture in Northern Ireland