A Modern Hospital: Memories of Princess Marina Hospital

Princess Marina Hospital in Northampton was one of the last NHS learning disability hospitals to be built. It was opened in 1972 and at the time was the most modern facility in the whole of Europe. The hospital finally closed in 1995.

Research carried out by the Finding Out Group (four people with learning disabilities who had research training) looked at the perspective of nursing and other staff from Northamptonshire Healthcare who worked at Princess Marina.

This is a oral history project supported by NHS nurses (many of whom worked at Princess Marina themselves) and authored by Jan Walmsley (Visiting Professor in the History of Learning Disability at the Open University).

The booklet is available for free online at the Centre for Welfare Reform or you can download a PDF here.

There is also a Power Point (download) of the findings with lots of photos on the Open University's web site.