Pendulum management in secure services

D. Beales

Mersey Care NHS Trust, Ashworth Hospital, Parkbourn, Maghull, Merseyside L31 1BD, and Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health NHS Trust, UK

Tilt (2003) defends himself clearly against the criticisms of Drs Exworthy & Gunn (2003). However, he does not emphasise the extent to which they have misrepresented aspects of the Tilt Report (Tilt et al, 2000). Specifically, Exworthy & Gunn state, following their quote from the Report concerning the relationship between security and therapy, ‘one should go further because in high secure hospitals therapy in its widest sense is an integral part of security’. This virtually paraphrases the Report itself: ‘Security is the responsibility of all personnel in a high security hospital and... good security facilitates good therapy and vice versa’ (paragraph 8.2).

There also appears to be a marked absence from this debate of both historical and organisational perspectives. Rapoport (1960) suggested, in considering the institutional dynamics of therapeutic institutions, that ‘disturbances were partly a function of cycles of abdication of authority, in the name of permissiveness, followed by authoritarianism to restore order’. The consequences of the report on the Ashworth Hospital inquiry (Blom-Cooper et al, 1992) (Ashworth at that time being an abusive, authoritarian institution) were clearly thought by Fallon et al (1999) to relate to a breakdown of security (permissiveness), leading to the Tilt Report (which has been perceived by many in secure services as authoritarian).

Perhaps attempting to understand this cycle more, and how it may relate to the complex (and potentially contradictory) tasks facing secure psychiatric services, might reduce the likelihood of yet more scandals, inquiries and reports in the future. Scott (1975) suggested that ‘detaining custodial institutions have two aims, one therapeutic, the other custodial. These can and should be complementary, but there is a tendency for these functions to polarise out and eventually split like a living cell into two separate institutions’. The debate between Exworthy & Gunn and Tilt illustrates the recurring nature of this phenomenon. Perhaps this debate needs to move on to a creative engagement with this process.

REFERENCES

Blom-Cooper, L., Brown, M., Dolan, R., et al (1992) Report of a Committee of Inquiry into Complaints about Ashworth Hospital. London: HMSO.

Exworthy, T. & Gunn, J. (2003) Taking another tilt at high secure hospitals. The Tilt Report and its consequences for secure psychiatric services. British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 469 -471.[Free Full Text]

Fallon, P., Bluglass, R., Edwards, B., et al (1999) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Personality Disorder Unit, Ashworth Special Hospital. London: Stationery Office.

Rapoport, R. (1960) Community as Doctor. London: Social Science Paperbacks.

Scott, P. D. (1975) Has Psychiatry Failed in the Treatment of Offenders?(The Fifth Denis Carroll Memorial Lecture). London: Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency.

Tilt, R. (2003) High-security hospitals (letter). British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 548.[Free Full Text]

Tilt, R., Perry, B., Martin, C., et al (2000) Report of the Review of Security at the High Security Hospitals. London: Department of Health.





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