St Patrick's University Hospital () is a
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...
at
Kilmainham
Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district.
History
Origins
Kilmainham's foundation dates ...
in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. The building, which is bounded by
Steeven's Lane to the east, and
Bow Lane West to the south, is managed by
St Patrick’s Mental Health Services
St. Patrick's Mental Health Services is a mental health organisation in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with over 700 staff members delivering 12% of the country’s total in-patient care and treatment needs.
Services
St. Patrick's provides a wide r ...
.
History
The hospital was founded with money bequeathed by the author
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...
following his death as "St. Patrick's Hospital for Imbeciles".
In March 1747, Dr. Steevens' Hospital agreed to provide a small amount of land fronting
Bow Lane for the purposes of building St. Patrick's, however it was nearly three years afterwards before construction commenced, as the governors became involved in lengthy discussions over plans and architects. In considering the challenges of building such a hospital, it is important to remember that no such institution for housing lunatics had ever been built in Ireland before, and except for
Bedlam in London, there was no comparable building in England either. The first step the governors agreed upon was for a high wall to be built around the site. This was achieved in 1747-8 at a cost of £146.
By 1753, the building (designed by
George Semple) was completed, but the governors did not have the money to furnish it, to employ staff, or to maintain charity patients. Thus the building lay empty for another four years. On Monday 26 September 1757, the hospital finally admitted its first patients, consisting of six men and four women, referred to as 'pauper lunaticks' in hospital records.
In ''"Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift"'', the poet anticipated his own death:
''He gave the little Wealth he had,''
''To build a House for Fools and Mad:''
''And shew'd by one satyric Touch,''
''No Nation wanted it so much:''
''That Kingdom he hath left his Debtor,''
''I wish it soon may have a Better.''
Swift himself was declared of unsound mind by a Commission of Lunacy in 1742.
Will Durant
William James Durant (; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American historian and philosopher, best known for his eleven-volume work, '' The Story of Civilization'', which contains and details the history of Eastern and Western civil ...
said of him: "He went a whole year without uttering a word."
Richard Leeper, who was appointed Resident Medical Superintendent in 1899, introduced a series of important initiatives including providing work and leisure activities for the patients.
Norman Moore, who was appointed Resident Medical Superintendent in 1946, introduced occupational therapy, including crafts and farm work to the patients.
[
After the introduction of ]deinstitutionalisation
Deinstitutionalisation (or deinstitutionalization) is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder or developmental disability. In the 1950 ...
in the late 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline. In 2008 the hospital announced the expansion of its outpatient services to a series of regional centres across Ireland. A mental health facility for teenagers known as the "Willow Grove Adolescent Inpatient Unit" opened at the hospital in October 2010.
Services
The hospital, which is affiliated with Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
, has 241 inpatient beds.
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's Hospital
Buildings and structures completed in 1753
Hospital buildings completed in the 18th century
Teaching hospitals in Dublin (city)
Patricks
Teaching hospitals of the University of Dublin, Trinity College
1757 establishments in Ireland
Georgian architecture in Dublin (city)