The hospital has its origins in Moss Side House, a children's home established on the site in 1878. It served as a Red Cross hospital during the First World War. Park Lane Hospital opened as a Broadmoor overspill unit on the site in 1974. Moss Side Hospital and Park Lane Hospital merged to form Ashworth Hospital in 1989. The name "Ashworth Hospital" was chosen by a ballot among patients and staff. Following the death of a patient in 1988 and a series of other serious allegations, a Committee of Inquiry into Complaints about Ashworth Hospital, Merseyside, headed by Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, was set up; it published its findings in 1992. Blom-Cooper was highly critical of the regime, which was felt to be more custodial than therapeutic. Seven staff and two managers were relieved of their duties. In 1993 a patient's advocacy service was set up in the hospital. This was the first mental health advocacy service to be introduced in a high security hospital in the United Kingdom. In 1997 a patient absconded from a day rehabilitation trip in protest against his treatment and the management of the Personality Disorder Unit. The Fallon inquiry, set up under the leadership of Peter Fallon QC, was established to investigate the allegations and reported in 1999. As a result of the Fallon Inquiry, a review into security was undertaken by Sir Richard Tilt, who recommended in May 2000, that security be upgraded to that of a Category B prison.
Organisation
Ashworth is one of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales, alongside Rampton and Broadmoor, that exist to work with people who require treatment due to their "dangerous, violent or criminal propensities", with the majority experiencing psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia, comorbid or other personality disorders. Ashworth currently has 14 wards. A wide variety of pharmacological, rehabilitative and psychological treatments are available. Rehabilitative and creative activity is supported with patients frequently entering work for the Koestler awards winning 27 prizes in 2011. In collaboration with The Reader Organisation reading groups have been set up in which staff and patients read literature together, promoting confidence and developing communication and other skills.
Patients of note
Ian Brady, the principal perpetrator of the "Moors murders", who was at Ashworth for more than 30 years after being transferred from a mainstream prison in November 1985. Brady remained there until his death in May 2017; he had been in custody for more than 50 years.
Dale Cregan, convicted of murdering four people in Greater Manchester during 2012, he was transferred from a mainstream prison shortly after his conviction in 2013.
Barry Williams, also known as Harry Street, multiple murder and possession of explosives, spent 15 years there after a killing spree in West Bromwich in 1978. He was returned to the hospital in 2014 for firearms offences and making threats against a neighbour in Birmingham, and died from a heart attack shortly after returning to Ashworth.
