Mental hospital regime in England and Wales

Although non-private conventional mental hospitals in England and Wales have been in existence for about two centuries, the literature on the actual regimes in those hospitals is not enormous. Since Goffman's Asylums, things have changed in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. However, not much has been written about the present position. This article (based on qualitative data collected over 12 months) describes the regimes in three conventional mental hospitals in S.E. England. It covers hospital policy on the admission of a patient, daily ward routine, the open-door policy, fire precautions, close observation, seclusion, search of patients and their belongings and the handling of patients' correspondence. It concludes that the regimes are reasonable.