1968: Hospital blaze kills 21 patients

Twenty-one female patients have died in a fire which swept through a wing of the Shelton Mental Hospital near Shrewsbury in Shropshire.

Another 14 women were hurt in the blaze, which started in a locked secure ward, and have been admitted to hospital in Shrewsbury.

The alarm was raised soon after midnight by a night nurse, but the fire quickly gained a hold on two floors of the women's wing.

At one point, there were 12 fire engines and 70 firefighters tackling the blaze. It took them two hours to bring it under control.

Shelton Hospital - parts of which are more than 100 years old - has about 800 patients.

It is believed the fire started from a cigarette end, discarded by one of the patients.

There were two night nurses on duty with an unqualified junior, responsible for 98 of the hospital's most severely mentally ill patients.

Most of the women were asleep and some were unable to move from their beds without assistance. Some 100 patients were taken to safety.

The Shropshire Group Hospital management committee secretary, John Mallett, was called to the fire. He praised the hospital staff and firefighters for the way they handled the blaze.

"The staff managed to dress before rushing to the wing and led the patients out calmly and in an orderly fashion," he said.

"The other patients in the hospital were not affected. We managed to prevent any panic whatsoever."

He denied claims the hospital was overcrowded and patients were sleeping in corridors.

He also rejected suggestions the ward was understaffed.

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