Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital (Joint Hospital)

Records relating to the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital, known as 'The Joint Hospital', which was formed in 1948.

On the drafting of the 1946 National Health Service Act, it became clear that teaching Hospitals would be allowed a limited form of autonomy within the new NHS. The Bethlem Royal Hospital, anxious to preserve some of its ancient forms and privileges, proposed a merger with the Maudsley Hospital, then the most prestigious psychiatry training hospital in the country. The Maudsley had a reputation for being at the forefront of psychiatric research under its Clinical Director, Aubrey Lewis, but was also in need of refurbishment and reform, and Lewis believed that Bethlem’s firm financial footing would help with this. The NHS and the Joint Hospital came into being on the same day in 1948. While there were differences of approach between the two sites, the Joint Hospital operated a ‘broach church’ approach to treatment, with a management structure based on that of Bethlem, although Keir Waddington notes that the Maudsley was the dominant partner for most of the 1950s and 60s. By the 1970s the Joint Hospital was a more unified service, offering different but complementary treatments at both sites, the Maudsley treating more acute needs and Bethlem offering a residential approach. The Joint Hospital became the foundation for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust formed in 1999, known as the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust from 2006.

See also Keir Waddington, ‘Enemies Within: Postwar Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital’ in Gijswijt-Hofstra & Porter (eds) Cultures of Psychiatry and Mental Health Care in Postwar Britain and the Netherlands (Wellcome 1998)

These records are arranged in the Australian Records Series System, and the catalogue has been adapted for display on Archives Hub. There may be some slight differences in description between this entry and the initial cataloguing work.

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Full catalogue available at http://archives.museumofthemind.org.uk/brha.htm