Dr Thomas Arthur Ross (1875-1941) was appointed the hospital’s first Medical Director. The hospital could accommodate 60 (other sources say 54) patients who were members of the educated classes unable to afford treatment in a nursing home. It was initially conceived that the hospital would focus on the treatment of… This was constructed in the place of the stables and coachman’s quarters to increase space for the growing number of patients within the house. This included psychosomatic conditions, depression, obsessional neurosis, drug addiction, anorexia, anxiety states and hysteria. The treatments were eclectic. There was interpretative therapy for long-term patients, while short-term patients were treated by education of persuasive methods. Patients were not encouraged to speak to the nurses about their illnesses, but to associate… Further alterations to the building allowed the hospital to accommodate up to 64 patients. This is because Swaylands was requisitioned by the army and so the Hospital was evacuated to temporary premises at Ash Hall in Stoke-on-Trent. The arrival of Dr Tom Main as medical director. Dr Tom Main was determined to develop it as a therapeutic community to treat personality disorders He is particularly remembered for his often cited paper The Ailment(1957) Doreen Weddell also arrived as Matron at the same time. This hotel was a late 18th-century building originally known as Morgan House, at Ham Common in Richmond. The hospital became part of the NHS under the control of the South West Metropolitan Regional Health Authority. Main was eager to develop the Cassel as a therapeutic community following experiments at the Northfield Military Hospital, a large military psychiatric hospital just outside Birmingham. Matron Doreen Weddell helped Main develop… New service provided for the local population within 5 miles of the hospital. Patients referred by their own GP. Inpatient capacity is reduced to release staff time to manage this new department. The hospital was transferred to the North West Thames Regional Health Authority, under the control of the South Hammersmith (Teaching) District Health Authority. This was following a major reorganisation of the NHS. Even though the Cassel was geographically in Richmond, it was felt that its needs would be better served… The hospital began to come under the control of the Mental Health Unit of the Riverside District Health Authority in West London. This came after yet another NHS reorganisation. It had 55 beds at this time. This combined six months of in-patient treatment followed by two years of group therapy and psychosocial nursing. Channel 4 made a documentary on the Cassel Hospital. Their description reads: “The Cassel is a unique NHS Psychiatric hospital in Surrey. It’s 55 patients actively help in its running. It uses no… From its earliest days, the Cassel Hospital has been supported by a charity, originally comprising its clinicians, their families and local residents, and notably by the Mountbatten family, as founder Sir Ernest Cassel’s granddaughter Edwina became Lady Mountbatten when she married Louis Mountbatten. The hospital has also enjoyed the royal… The Family Service was threatened with closure because of lack of referrals from the courts and social services. Despite a vigorous campaign to retain this unique service it was closed at the end of 2010. It was the only NHS specialist centre to provide treatment for vulnerable families whose difficulties… The garden is an important part of the active therapeutic treatment programme for patients. A Centenary Planning Committee was established to bring together present and past staff and patients to develop a ‘Voices of The Cassel’ programme of events and activities to mark the Centenary. Cassel hospital hosted the annual Skellern Lecture. Centenary Quilt – with 100 diamonds to mark each year, produced by…
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