David Clark (psychiatrist)

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David Hazell Clark (28 August 1920 – 29 March 2010) was an innovative

medical Superintendent at Fulbourn Hospital
(1953–1983).

Biography

David's father,

Belsen. After a spell in Sumatra where he organized the evacuation of 20,000 Dutch civilians from a Japanese internment camp, he spent six months in Palestine where he had his first experience of psychiatry.[1]

He then trained under Sir

medical superintendent
in the country, responsible for nearly 1,000 patients.

He began by involving the nurses and other doctors in his plans, and by 1958 had unlocked the doors of all the wards.In 1962 he made a trip to the USA visiting

Stanford independent from the University.. He then started to create therapeutic communities
in some wards, where patients had responsibility for day-to-day affairs. He changed the focus from treating patients in isolation to working with the whole institution.

In 1967, he was appointed as a World Health Organization adviser, visiting psychiatric services in Japan, Peru, Argentina and Poland. The same year, he was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh for his thesis "Psychiatric halfway house."[2] In 1972, David helped to found the Association of Therapeutic Communities and was its first chairman.[1]

After he retired he was active with the University of the Third Age.[3]

His verdict on recent changes in the NHS was critical: "Authoritarian, bureaucratic organisation which the NHS has become... run by managers under constant pressure from central government to save money, cut costs and keep things under tight control... they have reverted to the kind of administrative behaviour that marked the worst of the asylum days."[4]

In 1946, David married Mary Rose Harris having three children. After a divorce he married Margaret Farrell in 1983 acquiring five stepsons.

Books

References

  1. ^ a b Kennard 2010.
  2. hdl:1842/17103. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  3. ^ Havergal, Chris (2 April 2010). "Tributes to man who made hospital human". Cambridge News. 2010. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  4. ^ Dopson, Laurence (19 July 2010). "Doctor David Clark: Pioneer of the social model in psychiatry".
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