Old fashioned convalescence holidays. Were they a real thing or only in stories?

[StillTheOneIRunToooooo]

I read a lot of Enid Blyton type books in my childhood 😂🙈

I was speaking to someone whose mother has just had heart surgery in the Czech Republic. She said she was being sent to a hotel in the country where you have massages, saunas and walks etc. I keep thinking about marvellous it sounded.

When I started work in the mid 70s the union had access to a nursing home. One of my colleagues used to put his name down for a place most years. No illness, just wanted a free holiday for him and his wife.

I’ve got mental health problems
And this would help me enormously
And after an opp ,would free up beds
I remember reading about this ,sounds wonderful

I was brought up on the North Wales coast. There were a number of large buildings in the area which had previously been used as convalescent homes. In fact, I have a family photo from when I was around 5/6 taken on the front lawn of one in Colwyn Bay when we went to visit one of my DFs cousins who was staying there at the time. The ones I know of were later converted into nursing homes, hospices, private hospital or apartments.

@Givemeallthegin8 where in Ireland? I've never heard of one or anyone going to one. I've had family go to hospices for end of life care. My GGM went to a nursing home when she got dementia. But any family have always come home quickly after surgery.

Totally - my mum grew up in Eastern Europe and was sent to a spa town to recover from a severe throat infection

I found a century- old guide for seaside town a while back, and it definitely seemed to be trying to dominate the TB convalescence market. There were a number of massive, wedding cake style hotels (some of which are still there), advertising restfulness, clean air etc.

I suppose that the dirty, smoky air of the cities played havoc with vulnerable tuberculosis lungs, so fresh sea air would definitely have helped. Interestingly, I think I read recently that modern city air pollution has a detrimental effect on Covid outcomes- seems that nothing much has changed 😬

I’m 45 years old and I can remember the convalescent home where I lived as a child by the sea. It had been abandoned so obviously us kids used to play in it. I remember huge rooms and the whole of the back and side were huge ground level balconies. It had 2 floors and was massive with high high ceilings.

It caught fire, it was such a shame. It’s now a big block of luxury flats.

Following the creation of the NHS in 1948, the general health of the nation began to slowly improve. The general economy of the country also began to make a post war recovery, so people were better fed, hygiene improved with the availability of fridges etc.

Add to this the effects of national immunisation programmes against diseases like dypyheria and TB, the eradication of smallpox, the development of specific targeted antibiotics, the availability of reliable contraception, the widespread development of better anti natal care.

All these factors and more, contributed to the need for convalescence declining, so by the late 1960s early 1970s most convalescent homes were closed as they were redundant, long before the Thatcher era.

I had pneumonia a few years ago and when I got out of hospital I went to my parents to recuperate. They live in rural Scotland and it was March, so it was cold, but better than smoggy central London where I lived at the time.

The icing on the cake of my recovery, however, was 10 days in Sicily following that. The warmth! The sunshine! Lemon blossom! It took all my savings but it was so worth it.

My mum stayed at a convalescence home in Wiltshire for 6 months after having Rheumatic fever. Her mum (my Nan) used to send her a goodie box down. A bit like an Enid Blyton tuck box!

Following the creation of the NHS in 1948, the general health of the nation began to slowly improve....

Plus improvements in housing - indoor loos and bathrooms with hot water, less overcrowding, less damp, better heating and so on. Then in the late 1950s the Clean Air Acts. People were healthier, and if they were ill, they could recover comfortably at home.

I suppose nowadays it is possible to book a short term stay in a care home, if one has insurance, or can otherwise pay.

My father thought it 'a swizz' in the 1940s that he didn't get Scarlet Fever like his friends. He lived in Scunthorpe. They got to go to a sanitorium at the seaside (Cleethorpes, I think) to recover and he didn't.

He fancied 3 weeks at the seaside.

@StillTheOneIRunToooooo - there always seems to be a handsome doctor waiting to fall in live iirc. Where do I sign up???

My DM and MIL had hip and knee replacements respectively, one in Western Europe, one in the UK. DM, in Europe, was in hospital for a week and then in a rehabilitation centre for 3 weeks, with daily physios, massage, garden walks, and no household jobs or car travel. MIL, in the UK, was home in 3 days with some exercise instructions and has a had 2 follow-up appointments with a physio, which she has to travel to, at about monthly intervals. I won't be at all surprised if she has lower mobility and more complications than DM in the future, and her confidence in managing her recovery is markedly lower.

From the early 19th century if not before there were places all over Europe - usually in mountains or by the sea - where people with TB (a major killer) or other lung diseases or ailments went. It gave some relief in many cases if not a cure. They had many nurses but few doctors.

Reluctantly I think we do have to revisit the NHS - not to privatise it or dentistry any more - but to do some form of insurance and less free at point of use which is what France uses. So you understand what it costs even if you are mostly or fully reimbursed.

The worse thing that happened IMHO in the UK was the PFI, introduced by John Major but fully endorsed by Blair and Brown. Hospitals and wards could be built but at enormous interest (and schools). Which meant wards closed down because the money for doctors and nurses hadn't been factored in against the interest payments or maintenance.

[quote ElegantlyTouched]@StillTheOneIRunToooooo - there always seems to be a handsome doctor waiting to fall in live iirc. Where do I sign up???[/quote]
😂 I’m so tired that I’m only signing up for being gently courted and maybe holding hands.

I had a severe illness as a child (autoimmune) and was lucky to survive. This was in 1965. My parents took me to Devon for a few weeks for rest and relaxation. I seem to remember it rained a lot.
I think if more people had a convalescent period after illnesses these days they would probably have a better recovery, rather than feeling well enough to get out of bed and going straight back to work, especially with viral illnesses.

My grandad stayed in a convalescent home in the early 1990’s a few times after he’d had heart attacks, it was called The Bartlet, it was in Felixstowe. We used to take my granny to visit him as she didn’t drive, it was a lovely place.

Birmingham factorys had the Saturday fund that you could pay into and if needed you could convalesce is one of theirs homes (mainly in Weston super Mare I think) they have all gone but there is a huge place in one of the little villages nearby. As a PP has said, they would be a godsend to the NHS nowadays.

I had a traumatic emergency surgery in 2018 and was signed off for a term.

I took myself off to Eastbourne to “convalesce”. Did me the power of good, physically and emotionally.

I just had an overwhelming urge to be by the sea and take slow walks along a flat prom as soon as I could walk properly.

I remember visiting a lovely park/ garden in Ventnor which is the bottom of the Isle of Wight. That used to be a home for people with respiratory problems as the sea air was healthy. I can kind of see it, as it would have been extra breezy open out to the sea.

Yes, they were definitely a thing. My mother went to a convalescent home after the birth of my sister. She was 45 at the time and had a hysterectomy after the birth.
I don't remember exactly how long she was there, but my sister and I we stayed with an aunt and had to change schools.

@StillTheOneIRunToooooo

Genuinely, covid has knocked me for six. I have this bizarre longing for the freshest air I can find.

Oh god me too! Ido live somewhere with fresh air but I could do with a break!

Shall we start a mumsnet convalescent home?

I absolutely think that a Mumsnet Convalescent Home would be a very good thing indeed. I’m in for my op on Tuesday, so how fast can you scramble something together @Justine?