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 😂🙈

My sister was sent on one, round about 1962 (in England. She was about 12 and recovering from a bad appendectomy. When she came of of the surgical hospital the NHS sent her to a very small rural cottage hospital for a fortnight's convalescence. IIRC there were mostly longterm patients, some in respite care and some "convalescing"; she was the only child and spoilt to death.

I'm not sure a mumsnet convalescent home would be conducive to rest and relaxation. There you'd be, in the sauna eating crisps and having a chat with another patient, you'd politely inquire as to their MN user name and then...you'd remember having had a 7 page spat with them over ear pierced babies using disabled parking spaces.

@MurderAtTheBeautyPageant complete anonymity guaranteed 🤣

My MIL was sent to convalesce in Walberswick, Suffolk in the early 50s when she worked as a pharmacist.
I was talking to a family member who is a surgeon and he was saying that people have really forgotten how to convalesce & its so important, even with all the advantages of modern medicine.

Yep, they were real. There were lots of "convalescent homes", some linked to hospitals, some provided by large employers, some provided by unions.

Not an 'official' convalescence, but Florence Pugh's parents moved to Spain for three years when she was a kid to help her asthma.

@Butteredtoast55

My MIL was sent to convalesce in Walberswick, Suffolk in the early 50s when she worked as a pharmacist. I was talking to a family member who is a surgeon and he was saying that people have really forgotten how to convalesce & its so important, even with all the advantages of modern medicine.

I really, really hope someone's doing some post-Covid work on two things: the right to actually go off sick when you're sick, and the need for recovery after illness which long Covid has re-inforced. We could do ourselves a power of good if we adopt (or re-adopt) those ideas.

I'm 51 now, two teenagers, full time job that is quite stressful. I'd like 3 weeks in a hotel. Funnily enough I was looking up a hotel in the country that overlooks a river the other day. It's still 110 euro per night though. I need somewhere where I could stay five nights, overlooking a river (very soothing and calming) even if the river is filthy! I'm not going to swim in it. I envy people who look out the window of their house and see water flowing. I want that. Plus, no work. And no teenagers.

@clarepetal

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.

We visited that on a weekend trip to the I.O.W! Lovely place.

@TheYearOfSmallThings

They were a real thing. In Germany you can still get your GP to send you for a "kur" (cure) for up to 3 weeks if you need it.

The German system is far more patient centric than the NHS works. Mind you, the delivery of healthcare in Germany is a combination of private sector / not-for profit, and not run by the government. Try suggesting that here and see how well it goes down ;)

Yes, here, healthcare is available for all, but it’s not ‘free’. You pay a % of your income, and your employer pays another %. This can be anything from £1-£6000 per month depending on your income. We pay more in compulsory health payments than tax.

When I had my adenoids and then my tonsils out as a child in the late 60s I was kept off school for a long time. I can’t remember how long but it was more than a couple of weeks.

There's a recent book about it that I keep meaning to get round to reading, Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence.
I've had Covid recently and am 'better', but still unnaturally tired. I have to admit to fantasising about a bath chair on the south coast or somewhere

We live on the site of an old convalescent home, it was part of a wider site used for what was called the mental asylum but where our house is now used to be the TB patients used to go after they’d been treated but weren’t up to rejoining their families. They gardened and walked the heaths to get ‘good fresh air and exercise’ as part of their recovery.

As a student nurse in the late 50s it was common for gynae patients, following a hysterectomy to have a few weeks convalescence.

We have a lovely one round here designed specifically for people who've had hip/knee replacements. It's a repurposed hotel with hot and cold running physiotherapists, daily hydrotherapy, lovely food etc. Often sold as part of a package. About £300/day I think, for a fortnight.

Longer recovery times were needed in the past after surgery as techniques then lead to bigger incisions, more trauma, more blood loss, nastier wound care etc.

There were a number of convalescence homes around the area I grew up( seaside). One was actually dedicated to sea bathing. This was in the 60s.

Two of my mother's very many siblings were sent to seaside sanitariums after TB. This was just after the war. They were dirt poor and I think a charity paid for it. It was fairly common I think. My father was also sent away to convalescence after diphtheria. This was a time where polio was rife, TB too, and measles, mumps, etc. So they were used to nasty infections rendering kids out of action for many months or years.

There are some facilities available under the NHS / social care but normally its a stay in a care home for respite if you are medically fit but need a bit more care before you go home.

Also, many knackered soldiers and so on. Further back, post WWI, Spanish flu rendered many in need of rest and recuperation for a good year. Not only the wealthy, but middle and working class benefited from it.

Absolutely true. My DM had a hysterectomy in the early sixties. 3 weeks in hospital and 2 weeks in a convalescent home! Nowadays they send you home the day after your surgery, don’t they?
It would appear that women’s bodies have changed, and we can now manage without any rest…….

I had covid pneumonia last Autumn and I wish I could have had a proper convalescent routine once I was out of hospital, I think we're all guilty of pushing ourselves too far, too quickly after illness.

Right up until the late 80's there was a convalescent home for miners on the east coast of Yorkshire

@StillTheOneIRunToooooo

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

Me too!

when I was a child there was a convalescent home at the place where we always holidayed; Sand Bay near Weston Super Mare. It's an interesting shaped building just off the seafront on open large grounds. The building fascinated me and mum explained that it was a place where people went to get well after an illness. a few years after my uncle had a very bad car crash when on holiday in Bournemouth then when he arrived back in the home area the GP decided to send him to the aforementioned place for a convalescent. I think that it is still open but is maybe owned now by BUPA or similar