1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910229239903321

Autore

Hilton Claire

Titolo

Improving Psychiatric Care for Older People [[electronic resource] ] : Barbara Robb’s Campaign 1965-1975 / / by Claire Hilton

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Palgrave Macmillan, 2017

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2017

ISBN

3-319-54813-1

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XXIII, 283 p. 17 illus., 4 illus. in color.)

Collana

Mental Health in Historical Perspective, , 2634-6036

Disciplina

941

Soggetti

Great Britain—History

Social history

Medicine—History

Sociology

History of Britain and Ireland

Social History

History of Medicine

Gender Studies

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction: A strange eventful history -- 2. Psychiatric hospitals and older people: status quo or making changes? -- 3. Barbara Robb, Amy Gibbs and the ‘Diary of a Nobody’ -- 4. Establishing AEGIS and writing Sans Everything: ‘the case’ and ‘some answers’ -- 5. Reprinted before publication: plotting a route for Sans Everything -- 6. The inquiries: a lion’s den -- 7. Whitewash and after: ‘Most good is done by stealth’ -- 8. Then and now: concluding remarks.

Sommario/riassunto

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book tells the story of Barbara Robb and her pressure group, Aid for the Elderly in Government Institutions (AEGIS). In 1965, Barbara visited 73-year-old Amy Gibbs in a dilapidated and overcrowded National Health Service psychiatric hospital back-ward. She was so appalled by the low standards that she set out to make improvements. Barbara’s book Sans Everything: A case to answer was publicly discredited by a complacent



and self-righteous Ministry of Health. However, inspired by her work, staff in other hospitals ‘whistle-blew’ about events they witnessed, which corroborated her allegations. Barbara influenced government policy, to improve psychiatric care and health service complaints procedures, and to establish a hospitals' inspectorate and ombudsman. The book will appeal to campaigners, health and social care staff and others working with older people, and those with an interest in policy development in England, the 1960s, women’s history and the history of psychiatry and nursing.