Controversy
In 1968 Powick Hospital featured in a controversial edition of "World in Action", a leading British television documentary series, showing elderly patients of Ward F13 being left soaking in their own urine. The programme also featured other notorious examples of how the institution 'cared' for its patients in overcrowded conditions without dignity or privacy. This footage was subsequently re-used in a current affairs strand in 1993 - 1994. The footage of Ward F13's patients was superimposed on a picture of an asylum wall while a reporter disguised as a homeless schizophrenic looks back at how psychiatric patients were treated. The asylum wall at Powick itself was knocked down in the 1950s as part of Dr. Arthur Spencer's initiatives in updating and modernising the hospital. In the World in Action programme, Dr Spencer speaks of having to take the decision, as Medical Superintendent, to spend the limited funds available on acute rather than chronic care. The shocking revelations of the Ward F13 programme contributed to Powick being amongst the first wave of mental hospitals selected for closure in favour of community care developments. Acute admissions ceased in 1978 and the last patients were discharged in 1989.
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