Introduction: A Strange Eventful History

Abstract

In January 1965, Barbara Robb visited seventy-three-year-old Amy Gibbs, a patient on a back ward at Friern psychiatric hospital in North London. There, Barbara stepped into the murky, hardly shifting territory of older people’s long-stay care. Shocked by what she saw, such as harshness from nurses and the patients’ uniform haircuts, institutional clothing and lack of personal possessions and occupation, Barbara set out to make improvements. Her campaign triggered a series of scandals about psychiatric hospitals, ultimately resulting in change in National Health Service (NHS) policy and practice. This chapter outlines the historical context of Barbara’s campaign, at a time when consumer rights, equality, social justice and the quality of healthcare were among public concerns adopted by new pressure groups.