Castle Craig Hospital

This article is about the hospital in a country house in Peebleshire. For the hospital in a manor house in Edinburgh, see Craig House, Edinburgh. For similarly named hospitals, see Craig Hospital (disambiguation).

Castle Craig is a private residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. It is located in Peeblesshire, Scotland. Castle Craig is an 18th-century country house set in 50 acres (20 ha) of private parkland near the village of Blyth Bridge, around 20 miles (32 km) south of Edinburgh.

Castle Craig
Castle Craig
Shown in the Scottish Borders
Geography
Location	Peeblesshire, United Kingdom
Coordinates	55.6842°N 3.37499°W / 55.6842; -3.37499
Organisation
Care system	Private, Addiction Rehab, Psychiatric
Type	Residential
History
Opened	1988
Links
Website	www.castlecraig.co.uk
Lists	Hospitals in the United Kingdom

History

The estate is first recorded in 1170 when it was conferred, as part of the parish of Kirkurd, to Bishop Engelram of Glasgow by Pope Alexander III.^[1] The present Castle Craig was built in 1798 by Sir John Gibson-Carmichael (1773–1803),^[2] a relative of the Earl of Hyndford.^[3] In 1905 it was sold to James Mann, who commissioned Sir John James Burnet to remodel the house. It was in use as a residential school in the early 1970s.^[2]

The founders of the hospital, Peter McCann and Dr Margaret Ann McCann, first founded a treatment centre at Clouds House in Wiltshire, England, in 1983, before opening Castle Craig in 1988.^[4] Castle Craig is a category B listed building.^[2]

Services

Rehabilitation treatment at Castle Craig is based upon the 12-step abstinence-based model of care which recognises addiction as a disease and abstinence from all drugs is essential for long-lasting recovery. The medical programme at Castle Craig is led by Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist Professor Jonathan Chick, and provides detoxification from alcohol and drugs, medical treatment, 12 step therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and complementary therapies.^[5] Castle Craig is a private residential rehab clinic and is also a provider of services to the National Health Service in the UK.^[6]

Controversy and patient safety concerns

A tribunal found that institutional failures at Castle Craig contributed to the death of a patient. Failings at Castle Craig Hospital included:

• Excessive Medication Prescription: The hospital prescribed methadone doses exceeding established guidelines, leading to over-medication.
• Inadequate Supervision: Supervising physicians approved care plans and prescriptions without thoroughly reviewing medical notes, resulting in insufficient oversight.
• Poor Monitoring: Staff failed to adequately monitor Kieran's condition, overlooking signs of over-medication and intoxication.

These shortcomings breached the hospital's duty of care, directly contributing to patient's death from a combination of methadone, diazepam, and possibly temazepam.^[7]