Ely Hospital
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Ely Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Trelái) was a large
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, dissociative ...
in the
Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...
district of
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Wales. An enquiry into the ill-treatment of patients at the hospital led to reforms to services for people with
intellectual disabilities Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...
throughout the UK.


History

The institution was established as a Poor Law Industrial School for Orphaned Children in 1862. The school moved to an adjacent site in 1903, and its original building was then used as a
workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
under the
Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...
for accommodating mentally ill, mentally defective and chronic aged and infirm patients. In 1930 control of the institution passed to the
Public Assistance Committee A Public Assistance Committee (PAC), in the UK, was a body locally created after the abolition of the boards of guardians in 1930 by the Local Government Act 1929, when their powers and responsibilities for poor relief were passed to county and co ...
of
Cardiff City Council Cardiff City Council was the local government district authority that administered the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district council replaced the pre-1974 county borough council. It was succeeded in 1996 by Car ...
. From the establishment of 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 " ...
in 1948 it was designated a Mental Deficiency Institution and Mental Hospital and was administered by the Whitchurch and Ely
Hospital Management Committee From the founding of the National Health Service of the United Kingdom in 1948 until the reorganisation in 1974 the hospital management committee was the main instrument of local management. There were originally 377 committees which were answerabl ...
. The committee also managed
Whitchurch Hospital Whitchurch Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty'r Eglwys Newydd) was a psychiatric hospital in Whitchurch, an area in the north of Cardiff. It was managed by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The hospital remains a grade II listed building. Its g ...
, another large psychiatric hospital in Cardiff. In 1969 the hospital was the subject of an official inquiry into the abuse of patients, after allegations about pilfering and ill-treatment had been published in the ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'' on 20 August 1967. This was the second of many Official Inquiry Reports into National Health Service Mental Hospitals. The report, written by
Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990. Howe was Margaret Thatcher ...
(who became a cabinet minister) is still referred to within the NHS as containing important lessons. It went beyond the events at Ely itself, to look at the whole system and the way in which people with "mental handicap" – as it was known at the time – were treated within the NHS. The Ely Hospital report is regarded as significant in the development of services for these patients. It led to the 1971
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
''Better Services for the Mentally Handicapped'' and the first inspections of such services. After the introduction of
Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...
in the early 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline and it finally closed in 1996. From 2011 to 2012 the ''Ely Hospital Project'' was created by Cardiff People First, a self advocacy organisation run by people with a learning disability, some of whom had been residents of Ely Hospital. It was in partnership with Newport People First,
Museum of Cardiff The Museum of Cardiff ( cy, Amgueddfa Caerdydd) is a museum in Cardiff, Wales that exhibits the history of the city. The museum opened on 1 April 2011 and entrance is free. The museum has a collection of 3,000 objects and Cardiff-related artefac ...
and
Glamorgan Archives The Glamorgan Archives ( cy, Archifau Morgannwg), previously known as the Glamorgan Record Office, is a county record office and repository based in Leckwith, Cardiff, Wales. It holds records for the whole of the historic county of Glamorgan but ...
, and funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
, and the only oral history research project to come from the opinions, ideas and voices of people with a learning disability themselves. An exhibition was held in the Museum of Cardiff and the oral histories and project work remain online. From 2014 to 2016 the ''Hidden now Heard'' oral history project gathered stories from former staff, patients and their relatives of six long-stay psychiatric hospitals in Wales, including Ely. The project was undertaken by
Mencap The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the United Kingdom that works with people with a learning disability. Its Charity Number is 222377. History Established by Judy Fryd in 1946 as The National Association of Parents of Backwards Chi ...
Cymru and
National Museum Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
, and was funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
. Material from the project was used in an 2016 exhibition about Ely Hospital which was displayed in
The Hayes The Hayes ( cy, Yr Ais) is a commercial area in the southern city centre of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Centred on the road of that name leading south towards the east end of the city centre, the area is mostly pedestrianised and is the location ...
, Cardiff, before transferring to the
St Fagans National Museum of History St Fagans National Museum of History ( ; cy, Sain Ffagan: Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, links=no), commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, cultur ...
.


See also

*
List of medical ethics cases Some cases have been remarkable for starting broad discussion and for setting precedent in medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical eth ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* – An animated film made from oral histories {{authority control Former psychiatric hospitals in Wales Hospitals established in 1862 Hospitals disestablished in 1969 Medical scandals in the United Kingdom 1862 establishments in Wales Hospitals in Cardiff