tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post3830097057539303122..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: BLAME IT ON THE BUILDINGS by Eleanor UpdaleMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-68063453363165256632014-09-26T21:49:41.672+01:002014-09-26T21:49:41.672+01:00Bed being tidy! Blooming Apple gadgets with their ...Bed being tidy! Blooming Apple gadgets with their corrections!Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-35775267172291243152014-09-26T21:48:44.582+01:002014-09-26T21:48:44.582+01:00I don't mean much wrong with the system of med...I don't mean much wrong with the system of medical care free at the point of delivery, but with the tendency to domineering over patients and fuss about the. Ed. Wing tidy. On the other hand, hospitals used to be quiet at night, not hell- holes of racket...Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-19723281997390582702014-09-26T21:45:54.281+01:002014-09-26T21:45:54.281+01:00Yerss... I can remember people in the 60s who coul...Yerss... I can remember people in the 60s who could only live in the institution.. And yet it is all too easy to judge the past by our own standards. Care in the community for psychological patients would have been great if it had been done with care, but done under the auspices of a lady with a heart of stone, who disguised greed under 'you can't solve a problem by throwing money at it).. which in our day has translated into 'take the money away and it will be fine'. It amounted to throwing people out onto the street.<br />I was living in Hing Kong for 18 months between 1982 and 1983, and was appalled to see the sudden appearance of beggars on the streets. Honestly, there was a time when there were none, barring a few alcoholic dossers. Many of them came out of the now closed mental hospitals.<br />As for the Nightingales, they were apparently safer, not just because of cleanliness, but because nurses could see if someone collapsed. There was much wrong with the old system, but before cleaning was contracted out to the lowest bidder, you could eat your dinner off hospital floors and infections did not rampage the wards...Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-68697551229376910332014-09-26T19:11:54.198+01:002014-09-26T19:11:54.198+01:00At least that situation, however flawed, is better...At least that situation, however flawed, is better than simply bulldozing the lot. I remember reading a book once that was a list of all the big houses that had been demolished in the '50s, '60s and '70s - it was so sad to see the amount of houses that had once been full of life, and then left to sit empty, and finally knocked down.Becca McCallumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339982441409936532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-91404786955284470482014-09-25T11:47:59.491+01:002014-09-25T11:47:59.491+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.jordanRwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14519142466558533633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-48331879275713504242014-09-25T09:36:17.643+01:002014-09-25T09:36:17.643+01:00How very interesting Eleanor. Particularly so beca...How very interesting Eleanor. Particularly so because we had one of those hospitals in our area. It's now be partly demolished and partly turned into high-end housing. We live in a cottage by the farmland on which the inmates used to work. I visited the hospital as a child, to sing songs at Christmas for the patients and also to visit a couple of schoolfriends who, for different reasons, had to be resident there for a time. It always had a tranquil atmosphere and it felt like a place where you might actually get better. It had many resonances with what you say in your blog. Thank you for posting!<br />Elizabeth Chadwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911841862257909703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-69019303725466972092014-09-25T09:20:17.789+01:002014-09-25T09:20:17.789+01:00This is really interesting. I think we do tend to ...This is really interesting. I think we do tend to assume that progress has happened, and we know how to do everything much better than people in the past. We are very patronising towards our ancestors! Thank you, Ellie.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.com