The Mid Wales Hospital was a psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

 in Talgarth

Talgarth

Talgarth is a small market town and community in southern Powys , Mid Wales, with a population of 1,645. Notable buildings in the town include its 14th-century parish church and 13th century Pele Tower, located in the town centre, now home to the Tourist Information and Resource Centre...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It opened in 1906 and was formerly known as the Brecon and Radnor Joint Asylum or Mid Wales Counties Mental Hospital. It is in echelon style (narrow arrow)and at its peak could serve 1,000 patients. However, nearer the end of its life, in 1995, this had dwindled to 168. The site was also home to the Mid and West Wales College of Nursing and Midwifery and the Powys Drugs & Alcohol Council for substance misuse.

As part of its services the hospital provided treatments for the elderly mentally ill; rehabilitation and continuing care; occupational therapy; day care facility; psychology; reflexology; physiotherapy; electro-convulsive therapy; chiropody and psychiatry.

Closure

With new health legislations coming into force in the 1980s/90s and 'Care in the Community

Care in the Community

Care in the Community is the British policy of deinstitutionalization, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution...

' the entire hospital was wound down during the 1990s and closed for good in 1999. Some facilities moved into nearby Bronllys Hospital (formally South Wales Sanitorium). This is still open and run by the NHS Powys Local Health Board , whose Headquarters are also based here. Although there have been recent rumours of this hospital too closing.

Sale of the site

The vast estate is now privately owned after being sold for approx. £350,000 a number of years ago. The buildings have become run down and some derelict. There are signs of demolition throughout the site and in 2009 many of the original slates were stripped, these are believed to be worth in excess of £1 million.

Redevelopment plans

There have been plans to re-develop the site as business park, and indeed several buildings were, until recently, occupied as part of the "Black Mountains Business Park", however the site lies on the edge of town in a rural area, and the buildings are in a fairly poor state internally, and this limited the parks operation. Several properties that once belonged to the site, such as the gatehouse, have recently been sold off and are now privately held. The site in December 2009 was put up for sale.