| Admin History | Introduction
Berkshire Mental Hospitals Group Management Committee was created in 1948 as part of the National Health Service and sat within the Oxford Regional Health Board until 1974. The Committee became known as the St Birinus Group Hospital Management Committee, probably in 1968 when local mental hospitals were regrouped. This Committee managed two hospitals for the mentally ill, and 5 institutions for the 'mentally deficient', or those with learning disabilities.
Fair Mile Hospital at Cholsey, previously the Berkshire County Mental Hospital was the main mental hospital, accommodating around 1000 patients. Fair Mile gradually became smaller until it was closed in 2003. The records of Fair Mile from 1870-1980 are held at Berkshire Record Office as collection D/H 10, and a history of the hospital can be found under that reference.
Hungerford House, Hungerford, previously the Hungerford workhouse, served as an annexe to Fair Mile for up to 100 chronically ill long-term patients. It was closed in the 1990s and the buildings demolished.
Borocourt Hospital, Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire, had originally been built as Wyfold Manor House in 1878, and was purchased by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire County Councils permanently in 1930 as an institute for 'mental defectives', and continued to serve as the main institution for those with learning disabilities in Berkshire under the NHS. Various extensions were added to the building over the years so that at its height in the 1960s Borocourt housed over 600 people. The institute included children's wards, but these were gradually phased out from the 1960s, as it was no longer thought appropriate to house children and adults together. The emphasis at Borocourt was on training and rehabilitation to enable patients to move on to sheltered accommodation or independent living, and day care patients also came to use the training and occupational therapy centres. Borocourt was closed in 1993 and sold as the remaining patients and staff were moved to smaller units, and in 2000 the main building was converted into flats and houses were built in the grounds.
Wayland House, Bradfield and Cumnor Rise, Oxford were originally small homes for those with learning disabilities, and later served as sheltered accommodation for patients from Borocourt before they were discharged into the community. They housed around 80 and 35 people respectively. Prior to 1948 Wayland House had been the Bradfield Union Workhouse. It closed in 1991 and the buildings were demolished.
Old House, Wheatley, Oxfordshire, was used as a home for children with learning disabilities, housing about 15 children.
In 1949 the Smith Isolation Hospital in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, previously a hospital for infectious diseases, became part of the Management Group and was used as another home for children with learning disabilities or mental illness.
Under NHS reorganisation in 1974 mental health and learning disability services across Berkshire were managed by the Oxford Regional Health Authority, and from 1994 they were managed under various local NHS trusts including the West Berkshire Priority Care Services NHS Trust, East Berkshire Community Health Trust, and East Berkshire Learning Disabilities Trust. In 2001 these were brought together in one body responsible for mental health and learning disability services called the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
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| Arrangement | Summary:
COMMITTEE RECORDS: management committee minutes, 1948-1974; group professional staff committee minutes, 1966-1977; group medical advisory sub-committee minutes, 1961-1974; nursing, welfare and catering sub-committee minutes, 1956-1974; works sub-committee minutes, 1956-1974; estates sub-committee minutes, 1956-1974; finance, contracts and general purposes sub-committee minutes, 1949-1974 miscellaneous sub-committee minutes and reports, 1949-1963; Cumnor Rise and Old House, Wheatley committee minutes, 1948-1952; Borocourt and Wayland House committee minutes, 1948-1952; Fair Mile Hospital and Hungerford House committee minutes, 1948-1952.
OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: general ledgers, 1948-1957.
STAFF RECORDS: staff service registers, 1929-1968.
LAND AND BUILDINGS: estates terrier, 1963-1974; Wayland Hospital inventory book, 1948-1951.
PUBLICATIONS: brochures, 1959-1993. |