Stratheden Hospital is currently a small community hospital in Cupar, Fife which was originally called Fife and Kinross District Asylum. Its name was changed to Stratheden Hospital in 1948. It was a centre of excellence in Child and Family Psychiatry from the 1960s. In the 21st century, it caters for psychiatric health. It is managed by NHS Fife.
History
Early history
The hospital opened as the Fife and Kinross District Asylum on 1 July 1866. The first chief physician was John Batty Tuke. The hospital was extended at a cost of £20,000 in 1896. A further two new wings were added in 1905. Following the introduction of the National Health Service Act 1947 the name of the hospital changed to Stratheden Hospital on 7 July 1948.
A leading Child and Family Psychiatry Department
1960 saw the arrival of Dr Douglas Haldane, an energetic and recently appointed young consultant child psychiatrist. He had the novel idea of calling his department "Child and Family Psychiatry", a name that was to catch on elsewhere. His unit was located at 'Playfield House' and was opened in the grounds of the hospital. As the label implied, it catered for children, adolescents and their families. Eventually, in 1975, two purpose-built buildings were set aside for the in-patient care for whole family groups, along the lines of the Cassel Hospital, south of the border. The other consultant child psychiatrist appointed to the hospital was Dr Simon Lindsay, who had been a trainee of the distinguished child analyst Melanie Klein. Lindsay was said to have been the only direct Kleinian in the whole of Scotland.
Recent developments
In September 2014 Mrs Chrys Muirhead won an Ombudsman case against NHS Fife for the "unreasonable treatment" of her son in Stratheden Hospital. Mr Muirhead had been resident in the hospital in February 2012, and Mrs Muirhead had raised a number of complaints with the Fife Health Board, Fife Council Social Work and Fife Police throughout 2012. There was a locked seclusion room being used in the old intensive psychiatric care unit or Ward 4 at Stratheden which had no toilet, light or water, and Mrs Muirhead's son was locked in this room overnight, in the dark, unobserved, for hours at a time, with a broken hand untreated. When he needed the toilet no nurses appeared and Mr Muirhead had to defecate on the floor of the cell, following which, when still no nurses appeared, he did a dirty protest in his distress at being neglected. Plans for a new intensive psychiatric care unit at Stratheden were approved in 2014 and construction began in 2015 with funds awarded by Scottish Government. On 6 July 2015 First MinisterNicola Sturgeon joined NHS Fife chief executivePaul Hawkins in a sod-cutting ceremony at Stratheden Hospital and said "The Scottish Government is investing over £2 billion in Scotland’s health infrastructure over the spending review period, with this development being one of many that demonstrate the Scottish Government’s commitment to continually improving health services.” The extension cost £4.4 million and includes a communal lounge, rooms for rehabilitative and therapeutic activities, access to an outdoor courtyard, private meeting rooms for visits from families or visitors, an IT suite and eight new patient en-suite rooms. Hollyview Ward, IPCU, was officially opened by Maureen Watt MSP, Minister for Mental Health, in July 2016.
