> be changed, the commissioners in lunacy thought they conjured
up images of Victorian madness and lunatic behaviour. Lunatics
were now to be known as ‘Patients’ and the word Asylum was
dropped for the more friendly term of ‘Hospital’. Everything that
contained the word Asylum was disposed of. This meant that
everything from headed paper to crockery, attendants whistles
and bottles had to be disposed of and new items had to be
replaced with the word Hospital, this must have been at great
expense to the hospital.
Even one street name in Arlesey was changed from Asylum
Road to Hospital Road.
In 1925 it was felt that with modern attitudes towards the
patients there must be a modern attitude towards the hospital
itself, and by 1926 the hospital had its lighting modernized to
new electric lighting. The old original gas lamps were kept in full
working order as complete trust could not be given to the new
‘modern’ electric lighting. It was said “ Darkness in a lunatic
asylum was worse than darkness in Egypt”! The electricity was
supplied by The First Garden City Limited.
In 1926 the new cinematograph was installed much to the
delight of the patients and staff. Films were hired from The
Portsmouth Film Service Southsea. We know they hired five
films in October 1929 and settled the account of 5 pounds 4 shillings and 2
pence a month later, see cheque right.
In 1931 the cinematograph was converted to sound so they could now
show the new ‘Talkies’.
In 1937 the new nurses home was opened which greatly improved living
conditions for the female staff who had to have live in the accommodation.
By the 1930s it was becoming clear that patients could actually be treated
for their mental illness. Rather than keeping people locked away and
treating them with moral therapy and moral management. It was hoped with
modern techniques that they could actually
Above: One of Dr Russells Ectron ECT machines.
10 |
April 2015
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be cured of their illness and go back into society to
carry on a normal life. Treatments were being tried and tested throughout
the world with various degrees of success and TCH was no exception.
Insulin Coma Therapy (ICT) was one new forms of treatment, introduced in
1927 this procedure involved the gradual overdosing of Insulin to the patient.
The patient would eventually go into a coma after a series of Insulin
injections. It was thought this would cause the mind to relax while in a deep
sleep, thus when the patient awoke they would be calm and of clear mind
and hopefully relaxed and feeling better. This treatment had its dangers
and some patients died while in the coma state (Evidence of this at TCH
is not available, as the patient records for this period are under the 100
year embargo, although it is well documented that it was carried out at
undisclosed hospitals). This form of therapy was slowly discontinued and was
not in use by 1947,
When the new revolutionary Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) was introduced
in 1939. Doctor Robert Russell who worked at TCH became a pioneer in
the development of this treatment, He was not happy with the commercially
available machine made in Italy, this gave an unreliable jolt to the brain which
did not put the patient into a convulsive state. Dr Russell was a hobbyist with
electricity and he designed and built his own ECT machine which delivered
enough electricity to the patient to put them into a convulsive state and to sleep.
After considerable development his machine worked so well that it gave very
satisfactory results to people suffering with depression and schizophrenia,
After a period of time Dr Russell opened an ECT suite at TCH, people
could come in on an out patient basis, they could come in the morning for
treatment then go home in the afternoon, this proved very popular and was
unique to Three Counties.
Doctor Russell was so successful with his work and the development of
ECT that he set up his own business in Letchworth called Ectron selling and
developing ECT machines. The company still exists today.
Another treatment was even more radical, this was known as Fever
Treatment. It involved allowing patients to be bitten by mosquitoes with
Malaria! The patient would catch the disease and be put into a high fever
state, it was felt to be beneficial to patients with neurosyphilis – a condition
caused by people having untreated syphilis. The infected mosquitoes were
imported from Maudsely Hospital in south London. This form of treatment
was not used that often as it was dif