Ashworth Hospital

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Ashworth Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Maghull, Merseyside, England.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. It is managed by Mersey Care NHS Trust.Patients are admitted in a range of ways, from prison, through the court system or from another secure unit. The majority of patients come from the North West, West Midlands or Wales.Ashworth was formed from the merger of Moss Side Hospital and Park Lane Hospital, opened as a Broadmoor overspill unit in the early 1970s.PracticesIn the surrounding area of Maghull, Lydiate, Melling and beyond, Ashworth is noted for the weekly test of its alarm system, sounded at 9:00 am every Monday morning. The alarm is audible in much of the surrounding area, as far afield as the outskirts of Kirkby, Crosby and Skelmersdale. It is intended to warn residents and institutions of escapees, of which there have been two in its history as a psychiatric hospital. There have, however, been no escapes from within the current site and in this respect it is unique among the English high-security hospitals.