Graylands Hospital

Graylands Hospital
North Metropolitan Mental Health Services
Geography
Location	Mount Claremont, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Organisation
Care system	Australian Medicare
Funding	Government hospital
Hospital type	Psychiatric
Affiliated university	Tertiary Institution (Medical, Nursing, Allied Health)
Services
Standards	National Health Standards
Beds	170
History
Founded	1909
Links
Lists	Hospitals in Australia

Graylands Hospital is Western Australia's largest mental health inpatient facility, and the only public stand-alone psychiatric teaching hospital. It is located on a 10-hectare (25-acre) site in Mount Claremont, in a suburb formerly known as Graylands, after which the Hospital was named. The hospital has 178 beds, including 30 beds in the Frankland Centre, and 320 nurses on staff.

In 1909, plans were drawn up for a new "quiet and chronic" block to relieve overcrowding in the male wards at the Claremont hospital. Plans were prepared by the Public Works Department under the direction of then Principal Architect Hillson Beasley, and Acting Principal Architect William Hardwick. X Block, as it was known then (now Fortescue House), was constructed at the site that eventually became Graylands Hospital. The block was placed in an isolated position, adjacent to the dairy farm, and approximately 800 metres (0.5 mi) to the east of the main Claremont Hospital for the Insane site. Similar in plan to the main hospital, this block had a central core incorporating a kitchen, a dining hall, a doctor’s residence and small rooms for the head attendant, with two wards located on either side of the core area. Two rotundas that provided shelter for patients were constructed in the outdoor area on either side of the kitchen. The four separate free-standing wards and the core buildings were connected by means of timber framed covered walkways. Each ward had a separate single-storey bathroom and latrines building located on the eastern elevation. X Block was completed by 1910–11 at a cost of £24,789 and accommodated 150 patients, who worked in the adjoining farm, associated gardens and orchards located on the hospital site. The X Block wards were originally open wards, with patients on an honour system to be inside by 10pm.

In 1922–23, as part of renovations carried out to the Claremont hospital, the 1904 kitchen (located on the Swanbourne hospital site) was remodelled and upgraded. As a result, the kitchen at X Block was closed.

As early as 1917 there were complaints about overcrowding at Claremont Hospital for the Insane and despite the establishment of Lemnos Hospital in 1926 and Heathcote Mental Hospital in 1929, overcrowding and lack of facilities continued to be an ongoing issue for the hospital well into the 1960s.

...
Wikipedia