I recently Received this Via Email regarding the paperwork at Cane Hill:
CAMPAIGN TO STOP CANE HILL PATIENT RECORDS BEING LOST FOR ALL TIME - PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL THOSE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED...
As you are aware, the former mental asylum Cane Hill is being redeveloped and the demolition process will start on the 2nd June. As a writer working on a novel set at Cane Hill and the great grand daughter of one of it's residents (my great grandmother spent 11 years there before dying in the hospital) I take a keen interest in the site. During my research on-line I discovered photographs featuring patient records are still on site. On my visit to the hospital grounds last week, I was told by security guards that many patient records are still lying about the hospital - "no longer in the administration block, but spread about by trespassers." One security guard told me casually that he had read patient records of a sex offender who had been at the unit that was only closed in February this year "all the notes made on him since he was nine" he said.
On trying to track down my great grandmother's records I was told that all the hospital's paperwork was covered under the Data Protection Act - only a verified member of Croyden archive staff could access them. Croydon Archive only holds the admittance records, the archivist said the NHS had 'lost' all other records. He also mentioned that he is rung as often as three times a day by relatives looking for records from the Cane Hill hospital. When I asked English Partnerships' Philippa Bloomfield, Regeneration Manager, whether they were going to archive the paperwork, she said that all the paperwork would be collected and incinerated. As it is NHS property, theoretically it is their
responsibility, yet they have just left it on site.
My concerns on this issue are three fold:
1. Sensitive confidential information has been left vulnerable to public
exposure - this is completely unethically and possibly illegal.
2. Relatives and those who have been to Cane Hill have an interest in records
pertaining to their loved ones and themselves, once destroyed, these records are gone for good.
3. Those treated by the mental health system are often ignored and their views and histories hidden. As a writer and director of a company that promotes marginalised artists and writers, I believe that it is historically Important that these records are archived. This would ensure lost voices are no longer lost and those who have often felt brushed under the carpet by society have their rights recognised. The way society treats its most vulnerable is an indication of the values of that society, currently this society is looking like it just doesn't care about vulnerable people's rights.
I have started a campaign to stop the incineration of these records - I have
emailed press and local councillors. If you agree please forward this email to
interested parties and email your concern to the following people - before June
2nd 2008
Jolene Hill (Croydon Advertiser Cousldon reporter) [email protected]
Philippa Bloomfield (English Partnerships Regeneration Manager)
philippabloomfieldenglishpartnerships.co.uk
Ward Councillors - Coulson west
David Osland [email protected]
Gavin Barwell [email protected]
Brian Cakebread [email protected]
Couldson East
Terry Lenton [email protected]
Brian Udell [email protected]
Christopehr Wright [email protected]
Thank you
Dominique De-Light
www.freewebs.com/creativefutures