This activity will introduce you to the history of Lennox Castle Hospital.
For this task you will look at Part 1 of the Lennox Castle timeline to identify key pieces of legislation and link these to the lifetime of Lennox Castle Hospital.
1 Which Act of Parliament led to the setting up of places like Lennox Castle Hospital?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.The Act of Parliament that led to the setting up of places like Lennox Castle Hospital was the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act (England and Scotland). This followed from recommendations made by the 1908 Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded.
2 When was Lennox Castle Hospital opened?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.Lennox Castle Hospital was opened in 1936 though work had begun in 1929.
3 Who was Lennox Castle Hospital intended for?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.The Hospital was intended for people certified as ‘mentally deficient? following a classification of four categories: ‘idiots?, ‘imbeciles?, ‘feeble-minded persons? and ‘moral imbeciles?.
4 There were other Acts of Parliament before and after Lennox Castle Hospital was opened. What kinds of change were they aiming at?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.Other Acts of Parliament passed in 1927 and 1970, during the lifetime of the hospital, placed emphasis on provision in the community; for example in occupational centres or specially designed services.
5 What legislation prompted the hospital?s closure?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.The hospital?s closure was prompted by the National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990, which aimed to provide care in the community and a more independent lifestyle for people assessed as needing care and support.
6 How long had the hospital been open and how long did it take to close?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.The hospital was open for less than seventy years, but it took more than a decade for it to be closed.
7 What, overall, is the impression you?ve gained from the timeline about the kind of care and support available for people with learning difficulties?
Interactive content appears here. Please visit the website to use it.You may have noticed from the timeline that, whether in institutions or in the community, people with learning difficulties have tended to be kept segregated from the rest of society.
Part 1 of the Lennox Castle timeline shows the main policy landmarks, plus a number of other events mentioned by Howard Mitchell as he drove round the grounds of Lennox Castle Hospital. Put together in this way the events draw attention to how very short the life of this institution was, despite claims for its advanced nature when it opened. They also show how, by the time the hospital was opened, there was already a move to extend provision for people living in the community.
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