Women In Special Hospitals and Secure Psychiatric Containment
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| Pages | 28-30 |
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322199600019 |
| Author | Jennifer McCabe |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
28 The Mental Health Review 1:2 © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 1996
Women In Special Hospitals and
Secure Psychiatric Containment
FOCUS ON…
three women originally appointed that, despite
a dominant-male culture, attitudinal and practical
changes are beginning to occur and real thought
is being given to improving the lives of women.
However, despite these changes, there is a real
need to question whether women should, at all, be
in special hospitals and regional secure units (RSUs)
as they exist at present.
The majority of women special-hospital patients
come from other hospitals rather than through the
prison system, unlike male patients, the majority of
whom have come via prison. It is recognised that
women have much lower rates of offending than
men and that their offences tend to be far less seri-
ous. A far greater proportion of women have long
histories of psychiatric treatment. Some will have
been rejected by local psychiatric services because
they are a ‘management’ problem; others will have
come via prison, where they may have been held
for many months on charges of minor acts of arson,
criminal damage, assault. Only a very few will have
committed serious acts of murder or manslaughter.
The rest will be transfers from medium-secure
units (MSUs), the overwhelming majority of referrals
to special hospitals in 1994 was through this route.
T
ransfers from MSUs are mostly because MSU
services themselves are not adequate for women
patients and the situation for women in these units
causes great concern. The twenty-six MSUs in
England and Wales provide a total of 712 places —
51 of these for women — with a further 418 places
— 38 of these for women — allocated within the
private sector. Women make up less than 10% of
the total population and it is not unusual for a single
woman to be alone on a unit with 14 or more men,
Jennifer McCabe, Director
WISH (WOMEN INSPECIAL HOSPITALS ®IONAL
SECURE UNITS)
Within the three special hospitals, there are
around 250 women, out of a total patient
population of 1,500, whom the courts
have decided require treatment under conditions
of maximum security on account of their dangerous,
violent or criminal propensities. WISH and others
have long argued that these services are ‘unsuitable
and sometimes damaging — often because they are
designed for, and dominated by, male offenders’.1
Due to WISH and others working in the field,
women have ceased to be invisible in these hospitals
and the last five years have seen some progress. One
of the main catalysts for change was the Ashworth
Hospital inquiry which uncovered a harsh and anti-
therapeutic regime where women were ‘almost
constantly emotionally abused and at times physically
abused…they feel chronically frightened and over-
whelmingly powerless’.2The report concluded that:
‘the needs of women patients in Ashworth require
a thorough review by the SHSA and also by local
hospital management. It is clear that radical changes
are necessary if women are to receive the type of
care which will improve their mental health and
enable them to lead a better life after discharge’.
The SHSA took immediate action, including
directing each hospital to create a post with specific
responsibility for women’s services. Unfortunately,
the very nature of these hospitals which for years
had been run largely for male patients, made the
implementation of these posts very difficult. The
woman appointed to Rampton resigned after six
months saying that as an ‘advisor’ she had little
support and virtually no power to make any changes
(Rampton has now upgraded the post and a new
appointment has been made). It is a tribute to the
To continue reading
Request your trial