Powick Hospital - Research

Research

In 1952, after visiting Sandoz in Switzerland and meeting Dr. Albert Hofmann, Dr. Ronald Sandison moved to Powick and began pioneering British work in the psychiatric use of LSD, developing a program he called "Psycholytic Therapy" (literally "mind loosening therapy") for treatment of illnesses such as severe depression and schizophrenia. An LSD treatment unit was established at the hospital in 1958 in which Dr. Sandison administered his therapy until he left the institution in 1964. Medical Superintendent Dr. Arthur Spencer continued the program until Sandoz abruptly withdrew supplies of the drug in 1966, due to the problems of illicit recreational use. Records indicate that 683 patients had been treated with LSD in 13,785 separate sessions before the program was discontinued. In 2002 the NHS agreed to pay £195,000, in an out of court settlement, to 43 former psychiatric patients who were treated with LSD between 1950 and 1970.

Sandison writes about his early years at Powick:

...the amenities were bleak in the extreme compared with Warlingham. The hospital had been built in 1852 for 200 patients... Arthur (Spencer) and I were the only consultants, and two assistant doctors completed the staff. There were nearly 1,000 patients, 400 of whom were living in the four large wards of the 'annexe' built in the 1890s. I discovered that the heating system was defunct, many of the internal telephones did not work, and the hospital was deeply impoverished in every department. This state of affairs had been allowed to develop by the previous medical superintendent, Dr Fenton... who had spent 43 years at Powick. He practised the utmost economy and Powick became the cheapest hospital in the country... After discussion and consultation with my colleagues at Powick, and with the professor of Psychiatry in Birmingham, I undertook the clinical use of LSD at Powick Hospital towards the end of 1952.