{"id":211354,"date":"2025-12-30T12:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/211354\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T12:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:29:11","slug":"the-story-of-the-pioneering-graylingwell-hospital-in-chichester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/211354\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of the pioneering Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HistoricHistoric Hospitals \/ Dr H Blakeman<\/p>\n

Graylingwell Hospital (pictured here in 1992) in Chichester was opened in 1897 featuring advanced treatment plans for patients<\/p>\n

During the Victorian era, mental asylums had a reputation of treating patients with inhumane methods. <\/p>\n

However, a West Sussex mental health hospital, built in the late 19th Century, was a pioneering institution with foundations in treating patients with compassion. <\/p>\n

Alice Millard, West Sussex Records Office archivist, said Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester featured many advancements, including psychiatric treatments which had been developed in the 1800s. <\/p>\n

“Before the Lunacy Act, there was a tendency to misunderstand and call people living with mental health illness as ‘criminally insane’, Ms Millard said.<\/p>\n

“They would normally end up in jail or workhouses and be confined from society.”<\/p>\n

When West Sussex County Council (WSCC) was founded, it purchased the Graylingwell Farm site to build the county’s own mental health institution. <\/p>\n

\"WestWest Sussex Record Office<\/p>\n

Dr Harold Kidd, the first Med Supt of Graylingwell Hospital, believed in treating mental health patients with care and compassion<\/p>\n

Before the hospital was built, West Sussex patients were sent to Sussex County Asylum in Haywards Heath, which was overcrowding. <\/p>\n

Graylingwell Hospital opened in 1897, and Ms Millard said the hospital’s first Med Supt, Dr Harold Kidd, had a “pioneering vision”.<\/p>\n

“Dr Kidd wanted the hospital to treat people in a humanistic way, and he adopted progressive methods in treating patients,” Ms Millard added.<\/p>\n

This included training nurses in psychology to better understand and communicate with patients, wards were designed to have a “homely atmosphere”, gardens, soft furnishings and music rooms.<\/p>\n

“It was common in the 19th Century to restrain patients, but Dr Kidd wanted patients in Graylingwell to participate in activities like gardening to help improve wellbeing,” Ms Millard added.<\/p>\n

“Dr Kidd believed in giving patients dignity. He was conscious that the word ‘asylum’ had stigma attached to it so Graylingwell was called a hospital instead.”<\/p>\n

Ms Millard said the hospital was requisitioned during the First World War and soldiers started arriving in March 1915.<\/p>\n

However, the hospital did not treat patients with war-related mental health problems.<\/p>\n

\"WestWest Sussex Record Office<\/p>\n

Graylingwell Hospital staff and patients planting potatoes<\/p>\n

The hospital in later years<\/p>\n

Afterwards, the hospital’s newly-constructed Summerdale block was used as a military hospital for the Second World War.<\/p>\n

The hospital then resumed its services until it closed in 2001. <\/p>\n

There are now residential homes on the site and former farm stables are set to be revamped into a creative hub<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It’s important to remember the hospital’s history and its significance in being one of the trailblazers in mental health treatment,” Ms Millard said. <\/p>\n

\"HistoricHistoric Hospitals \/ Dr H Blakeman<\/p>\n

A patients’ pavilions on the east side of the main hospital complex. This photo was taken in 1992<\/p>\n

Kelly Winstanley, national clinical lead for Mental Health Matters, said our attitudes towards mental health has changed.<\/p>\n

“There’s more understanding about common types of mental health such as anxiety and depression,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have seen mental health more represented, for example celebrities being more open about their challenges on TV shows.”<\/p>\n

Ms Winstanley said, however, some people still talk about certain mental health conditions without fully understanding it.<\/p>\n

“These include Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and schizophrenia,” she said. <\/p>\n

“The language we use to describe mental health does matter because it can make patients feel judged and stigmatised.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Historic Hospitals \/ Dr H Blakeman Graylingwell Hospital (pictured here in 1992) in Chichester was opened in 1897…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-211354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}