Interviews of Eileen Powell

Biographical interview with Eileen Powell who was born in Glasgow and came to Dumfries in 1977 to work in the child psychiatry unit at the Crichton Royal Hospital. Eileen explains that she studied medicine at Glasgow and then specialised in psychiatry. She came to the Crichton after a few years of working in psychiatric units in both Glasgow and Leverndale and was able to take a look at changing psychiatric provision at the Crichton and across Scotland. She recalled that there were 3 wards at the Crichton for children and adolescents when she arrive in 1977. The adolescent unit had been started in 1974 by John Powell and was unique in Scotland at that time. As local provision could be very limited, children and young people from all over Scotland, including the islands and the north of England came there. Eileen said that a drawback of this was to separate children from their wider family.

She also notes that pre-1974, there was very little dedicated provision at all. Children and young people would be cared for at home, or through day services and some would be sent to the Royal Scottish National Hospital at Larbert. Eileen describes the care provision for adolescent patients at the Crichton as a 'therapeutic milieu' with different specialists working together to help their patients. Although more patient-focussed when she arrived, the unit soon moved towards a more family-centred approach.

Eileen also talks about the challenges of dealing with patients with complex care needs and notes that there is still a case to be made for more appropriate provision in Scotland. Eileen remembered thinking how lovely the Crichton and grounds were when she arrived and said that she thought this provided an appropriate space to support the patients. However, she said that over time the limitations of the buildings and increasing problems with them had an impact on staff morale and the development of Midpark was needed to provide better care for patients and staff. Eileen went on to work with the learning disability service, which grew out of the respite unit, and she talks about how the multi-disciplinary approach used by the service was designed to help patients to move back into the community. At the end of the interview, Eileen talks about how much she enjoyed working at the Crichton.