Full description
Premises originally built as the Newcastle barracks for Imperial troops in 1849 (1), and later occupied as an Industrial School for Girls, were established as a public asylum for imbeciles and an establishment for idiots on 15 September 1871. (2) The first patients arrived on 6 October 1871 (3), with 100 feeble minded children and aged imbecile men transferred from the overcrowded wards of Parramatta Lunatic Asylum. (4)
In 1890 a resident Medical Superintendent replaced the services of visiting medical officers, with a decreased death rate, less sickness, and an improvement in the industrial employment of the inmates noted. (5) In 1892 the effects of the economic recession resulted in admissions to the Hospital more than doubling as families became unable to care for non-productive members and community support diminished. (6)
Patients were admitted under the provisions of the Lunacy Act 1843 (7 Victoria Act No 14), the Lunacy Act 1898 (Act No 45, 1898), and the Mental Health Act 1958 (Act No 45, 1958). Not until the Mental Health Act 1983 did the definition of a mentally ill person specifically exclude those with a "developmental disability of mind". (7)
By 1908 approximately 450 patients, the majority of them adults, were resident in the Hospital at Newcastle, and a specialist teacher had been appointed to establish a kindergarten school. Custodial care, to ensure cleanliness, health, comfort, and happiness, was considered sufficient for adult inmates, while the education of children aimed to "expand and stimulate the limited mental faculties they possess" as well as training them to undertake "some of the ordinary duties of daily life". (8)
In 1968 wards were set aside in conformity with an amendment to the Commonwealth Social Services Act which allowed an invalid pension to be paid to intellectually handicapped patients over the age of 16 years, provided they were being trained towards rehabilitation, and were accommodated separately from non-pensionable patients. (9)
By 1969 the Hospital was in the midst of transition into a treatment centre for psychiatric patients, to operate in conjunction with the Admission Centre. Several wards were closed with building and renovation projects planned. (10) A new integrated and enlarged Admission Area at the Newcastle Psychiatric Centre was opened and occupied by patients on 1 April 1971. (11)
By 1989, the facility was known as James Fletcher Hospital. (12)
In 2008, the hospital was described as a 86-bed acute mental health facility, with services including general psychiatry, mental health services for older people, and a 24 hour psychiatric emergency service including psychiatric intensive care. Other services at the site included a Centre for Psychotherapy, Centre for Mental Health, Hunter Institute for Mental Health, Hunter New England Mental Health management and management of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, together with Neuropsychiatry Service outpatient service, court liaison and MERIT (a service of Hunter New England Drug and Alcohol Services). (13)
Endnotes
1.Bostock, J, The Dawn of Australian Psychiatry, Australasian Medical Publishing Company, Glebe, 1968, p.212.
2.NSW Government Gazette 1871, 15 September 1871, p.2049.
3.Inspector of the Insane, Report for 1876, in Votes and Proceedings 1876-77, Vol 4, p.770.
4.Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville, Report for the year 1871, in Votes and Proceedings 1872, Vol 2, p.424.
5.Inspector General of the Insane, Report for the year 1890, in Votes and Proceedings 1891-92, Vol 7, p.359.
6.Inspector General of the Insane, Report for the year 1892, in Votes and Proceedings 1892-93, Vol 7, p.1107.
7.Mental Health Act 1983 (Act No 178, 1983), s.5(2).
8.Inspector General of the Insane, Report for the year 1908, in Parliamentary Papers 1909, Vol 2, p.204.
9.Director of State Psychiatric Services, Report for the year ended 30 June 1968, in Parliamentary Papers 1968-69, Second Session, p.571.
10.Director of State Psychiatric Services, Report for the year ended 30 June 1969, in Parliamentary Papers 1969-70-71, Vol 4, p.698.
11.Director of State Psychiatric Services, Report for the year ended 30 June 1971, in Parliamentary Papers 1972-73, Vol 4, p.622.
12. NSW 1989 Government Gazette, 8 September 1989, pp.6676-77 - appointment of James Fletcher Hospital as an Admission Centre and a Mental Hospital.
13. James Fletcher Hospital website, 16 July 2008 http://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/services_and_facilities/james_fletcher_hospital.
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