OVERCROWDED.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1198, 5 August 1911, Page 10

OVERCROWDED.

AVONDALE MENTAL HOSPITAL SHOCKING STATE OF AFFAIRS. I I WHAT A PRESS REPRESENTATIVE ! SAW. | [By TeleiraDh.—SDecial CorresnondenU . Auckland, August 3. Increased accommodation is urgently needed at Avondaie Mental Hospital, according to the Teport of a New Zealand r"Herald" representative, who paid a visit of inspection to this homo for the insane. He states that the institution is shockingly overcrowded, and goes on to say: In addition to tho beds in the many dormitories and single rooms, "shakedowns" (ordinary mattresses without bedsteads) were seen in every conceivable direction. They were laid along tho floor in corridor after corridor. They occupied ground space in ail sorts of corners. They were.piled up in recesses here and there ready to bo placed outside the doors of rooms when the inmates of the latter should have retired. The number of these "shakedowns" was appalling. On the men's side alone there were 513 patients who have to bo accommodated each night. On the women's side 305 aifliited souls have to be provided with beds, and of these 818 patients large numbers are nightly compelled to go to rest upon improvised beds laid flat upon the floor, many of them in draughty passages. Some have to be put up with even worse conditions. Their "shakedowns" aro located from sheer necessity outside the single rooms occupied by refractory patients. Such a state ot affairs is against all tho principles of modern hygiene, and demands instant remedy. It was noticed that little refinement of dress is allowed, the men in,particular being garbed in somewhat rough attire. It is quite evident that the present overcrowded condition of tho institution and the lack of Adequate accommodation is from every point of view unsatisfactory. Plainly, the classification of patients, though it is carried out as well as can be expected under the circumstances, is deplorably deficient. To take the case of the male inmates, the plan adopted as far as possible is to place the better patients, those who can be trusted, in, dormitories together. Some of the refractory patients (or as many as possible) are provided with single rooms, and they lie on mattresses upon tho floor, and aro given the usual amount of bedding. Their windows are fitted with stout, ventilated shutters, and no metal or china implements or utensils aro allowed them. Thus we have a general division of tho quiet from tho noisy, or violent type.

Anything Might Happen. There are, however, other classes to provide for, namely those with homicidal and suicidal tendencies, and those subject to epileptic fits. In at least one or two of tho dormitories the suicidal, homicidal, epileptical, and refractory' patients have to sleep together because there is no accommodation for them. Such rooms as described, and many of the single rooms, are fitted with observation classes leading on to tho corridor, but even with the eye of an attendant constantly upon them, it is clear that anything might happen either in a dormitory or a dayroom full of patients liable to break out into an abnormal state at any time. All sorts of precautions are taken, such as that to these patients no pillowslips or sheets are given, and all doors aro locked throughout the day, to prevent any of them from hiding anything -in their bods wherewith they might injure themselves or others. But this enforced herding together of what may be termed the dangerous types of the afflicted with tho incessant watch that it entails constitutes a perpetual strain that the staff should not be called upon to bear. Out in the exercise yards it is the same. There are but two for the men. As far as possible the quiet patients are kept in one yard and the refractory ones in the other, but they cannot be classified as minutely as they ought to he. This is little short of a scandal, and prompt realisation of tho fact on the part of the Government should bo insisted upon. The , difficulty of properly caring for patients is accentuated by the fact that expert attendants and nurses are hard to obtain. In consequence, when vacancies occur men and women unused to patients sufforins from mental diseases have often to bo taken on. There is again a danger in such procedure, owing to the fact that should any untrained attendant inflict cruelty upon a patient the act would stand a strong chance of being undetected. Cruelty to patients is thereby mado more possible than should be the case. In other respects tho comfort and safety of tho inmates are well looked after, as evidenced by the home-like reading, sitting, and billiard-rooms provided,. and the completeness of tho fire appliances and escapes .throughout the buildiinss. . The evils to-be faced and fought include overcrowding, inability to give the. requisite, .amount of individual attention to certain patients, and the inadequate supply of suitable expert nurses and attendants. Until these defects are remedied it is unreasonable to expect the best results. Tho Government contemplates erecting a new buildinK for 250 refractory patients in the neighbourhood of the mental hospital, and this affords a prospect of some reform in the direction of better classification. To a casual observer it seems that this proposed building will relieve the overcrowding in tho main institution, but does the Government contemplato making sufficient provision for future cases?