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| The old historic entrance to the hospital, the buildings behind have been vandalised. |
On a recent visit to Mile End Road I was shocked to see the state of dereliction St Clements Hospital has fallen into. The psychiatric hospital closed in 2005, with mental health services moving to a new purpose built facility at Mile End Hospital.
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| Once much effort went to keeping people in, now the focus is on keeping unwelcome visitors out. |
St Clements began life as the City of London Union Workhouse in 1849. It was converted into an infirmary in 1874 and was renamed St Clements in 1936. It is a place that has witnessed immense suffering.
When training to be a psychotherapist I undertook the mandatory psychiatric observation placement in Tower Hamlets, dividing time between a community mental health setting shadowing staff working at Stepney and Wapping Community Mental Health Team and time in the acute setting of St Clements, spending time with staff and patients on a rehabilitation ward. Conditions in the hospital were very antiquated. The building felt very Dickensian, it was like stepping back in time. Locked fogged plastic windows added to the feelings of claustrophobia. Some patients had lived in the hospital for a very long time, and had become quite institutionalised.
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| Nature appears to be reclaiming the space, here ivy creeps over wrought iron railings. |
Overall my sense was that this was a frightening depressing environment to be mentally unwell in. It was not an environment conducive to healing.
East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust sold St Clements to the Homes & Communities agency, they plan to build 275 new dwellings on the site.
