Oral histories
Listen to the Experiences of former Warneford Patients
Here, visitors have the opportunity to listen to users of the Warneford’s mental health services talk about their experiences. We are extremely grateful to these individuals for sharing their stories with us, giving us a rare insight into what life was like at the Warneford.
These clips are taken from longer interviews with the service-users that you will be able to hear in full at the Oxfordshire Health Archives later in the year.
Who you will hear from
Service-user A was first admitted, as an inpatient, to the Warneford Hospital in 1984. Since then, she has had other admissions and has used outpatient services at the hospital. She has long been a passionate and active advocate for making the service user’s voice heard. A founding member of Oxford Survivors and the ‘Moonlight’ training group she has been involved in research, consultation and training on mental health issues.
Service-user B was admitted to the Warneford hospital in the 2010s whilst experiencing a psychotic episode after a bereavement. He tells us about his interactions with the staff, other patients, and his visitors, all of which were very different. The admission was an alien experience for him, as he had never suffered from such significant mental health problems before, let alone been in a psychiatric hospital. After his admission, he recovered and has not been re-admitted since.
Service-user C had more than one admission to the Warneford. In some of these admissions she was “sectioned” under different parts of the Mental Health Act. She recalls the different treatments she received, as well as what daily life was like on the ward. Despite the disruption of her multiple admissions over the past few years, she is now enrolled in a college course and living in the community.
As a young woman in the early 2000s, Service-user D was admitted to Cotswold House at the Warneford Hospital site for treatment for an eating disorder. Initially, she was an in-patient for a period of approximately three months. As she recovered, she moved on to day- patient care, then out-patient care. Some nine months after her initial admission, she was able to return to the training course and work that she had planned prior to her illness.
Guide to the Individual Clips
1. Service-user A discusses why she was admitted to the Warneford, what it was like to be admitted, and describes her first days at the hospital.
2. Service-user B describes his admission to the Warneford and his first impressions of the hospital.
3. Service-user C describes the process of being sectioned on a 136.
4. Service-user C talks about her experience of being admitted to the Warneford’s 136 suite, after being sectioned.
5. Service-user D talks about being admitted to Cotswold House, choosing a room and meeting the other patients.
6. Service-user B describes meeting other people on the ward.
7. Service-user B talks about having visitors and trying to find somewhere quiet.
8. Service-user A tells us about daily life as an inpatient at the Warneford
9. Service-user A discusses the activities organised for patients and her experience of outpatients.
10. Service-user C describes occupational therapy on the Warneford’s Wintle and Allen wards
11. Service-user D outlines the daily routine and therapeutic activities at Cotswold House
12. Service-user D tells us about her recovery and her relationships with the staff
