General Notes

Dr Martin Matthew Whittet, OBE, FRCP Edinburgh
Born: 12th November 1918
Died: 10th December 2009
Specialty: Psychiatry
MB Glasgow 1942,
DPM London 1944,
MRCP Edinburgh 1946,
FRCP Edinburgh 1960,
FRFPS Glasgow 1964,
FRC Psych 1971
(Obituary contributed by Dr.Tadeus Baecker)
Dr Whittet, retired physician superintendent of Craig Dunain Mental Hospital, Inverness ( now known as New Craigs) has died, aged 91.
He took up this post in 1951, then aged 32, and retired in 1983, at the time of his appointment being the youngest physician superintendent in Scotland. At that time mental hospitals were secure and it has been reported that he not only started on a process of de-institutionalisation, opening wards, decorating and removing locks, but in some cases had the doors removed.
He also started to spread psychiatric services into the community doing domiciliary visits all over the Highlands and developing links with general practitioners throughout the region.
He is particularly remembered for encouraging the development of services for patients addicted to alcohol, or his sensitivity, kindness and gentle nature, and for his concern for the welfare of patients. He was quite a private person, widely perceived as a true gentle-man.
I first met him in 1963 when I took up a post as his clinical equivalent on learning disability services in the Highlands. I have particularly fond memories of his support and consideration for a new-in-post younger colleague, meeting regularly to discuss practical and clinical issues occurring in the process of change in an already established service. These meetings he initiated.
He is survived by his wife, four children and eight grandchildren.
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Dr Martin Whittet   -   Obituary in The Scotsman
Published Date: 25 January 2010
By ALLY MUNRO
Born: Glasgow. 12 November, 1918. Died: Raigmore Hospital, Inverness. 10 December, 2009, aged 91

DR MARTIN Whittet, the former Superintendent Physician at Craig Dunain Hospital, Inverness, was an outstanding physician/clinician who made an indelible mark in the field of mental health during a long and distinguished career.

He was the youngest ever to run a psychiatric hospital – and then went on to revolutionise the perception of mental health illness during his 32-year reign. He was renowned for his compassion, modesty, intellect, quick wit, as much as for his achievements.

An only child, he was born and raised in the west end of Glasgow. He attended Glasgow High School, where his father was head of the art department, from 1924 to 1936.

On leaving school, family pressures and expectation led Whittet to embark on an engineering degree. But rebellion, coupled with family illness, led him to switch to medicine.

Two days after sitting his finals, he sat the Diploma in Psychological Medicine in London having been encouraged by his mentor, the eccentric Dr Angus MacNiven, who was Physician Superintendent at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow.

Having contracted TB as a student, Whittet was rejected for the armed services following his graduation in 1941. But he quickly found house jobs in Glasgow Royal Infirmary exhilarating, especially the burns unit where Professor Tom Gibson's researches made today's skin grafts/transplants possible and where Professor (Sir) Alexander Fleming visited to assess the early impact and efficiency of penicillin.

Whittet worked initially as a clinical clerk/consultant at Gartnavel and then deputy physician superintendent under Dr MacNiven.

In 1951, at the age of 32, he was appointed Physician Superintendent and Consultant Psychiatrist at Craig Dunain Hospital, Inverness, the youngest ever appointee to such a position in the country.

His remit was to develop a proactive mental health system covering the whole of the Highlands and Islands. He strongly believed and practiced the principle that doctors had a duty to be kind and humble.

Those who worked for him considered him warm and caring but also as someone who brought fun to the workplace.

He inherited a secure asylum where virtually all patients were certified. But he tirelessly worked to transform it into an open hospital where a significant percentage of patients would enter voluntarily. It was reputed that prior to his arrival admissions were averaging around five a year. However, following his changes, it was not unknown for admissions to be five a day. Patients were happy to go there and such was his impact that, once there, many did not want to leave.

He insisted on visiting every patient in the hospital daily and if he could not do this, he would have one of his senior consultants do so and have them report back to him before the day was over.

His concern for his patients' well-being extended to ensuring an appetising diet and a change of décor from ubiquitous hospital brown. He encouraged occupational therapy – the hospital had its own gardens, farm, joiners, electricians, plumbers, painters and leisure activities. He introduced a shop and canteen for the patients and a bowling green in later years.

He set up regional clinics throughout the Highlands and Islands and to aid communication with those from the Western Highlands and Islands, learnt Gaelic and became a keen member of the Gaelic Society.

He was always prepared to personally attend no matter how remote the area or inclement the weather and on one occasion had to commandeer a boat to reach a patient who had taken to the water.

His office, with its open fire and comfortable armchairs, was a far cry from clinical environments of today and many a relative was reassured over a comforting cup of tea by the fireside.

In an effort to combat the high level of alcoholism in the Highlands and Islands, branches of Alcoholics Anonymous were set up at his instigation.

Over the early years in Inverness, he became increasingly active in the forensic field and was frequently called upon to act as an expert witness for many high-profile criminal cases, including murder trials.

Albeit very serious affairs, he managed to demonstrate a lighter side on one such occasion when he was asked if the accused might have "a bee in his bonnet rather than a delusion"?

Dr Martin replied: "Sir, I must respectfully say in all seriousness … if it's a bee, then it's an abnormal bee!"

In another case, Ian Simpson, the "A9 murderer" who was subsequently incarcerated in the high security Carstairs Mental Hospital, later showed his appreciation of Whittet's testimony by sending him a gift of a violin he had carved and a painting of the murder scene.

As well as being psychiatric commissioner to HM Armed Forces, Whittet also spent many years as psychiatric consultant to HM Prisons and, specifically, Porterfield Prison in Inverness. Despite this onerous workload he found time, not only for the Gaelic lessons, but also public speaking at forums of all levels in his quest to challenge the stigma surrounding mental illness.

In the little free time he had, Whittet was also a keen writer and as well as clinical papers wrote many booklets on a variety of topics – Over the Hills and Not So Far Away, A Liquid Measure of Highland History and Forgotten People-Single Homeless, to mention but a few. His outside interests included salmon fishing, golfing and playing the accordion.

On retiring from Craig Dunain Hospital in 1983, he was appointed the Lord Chancellor's Medical Visitor from 1985-88 and travelled the length and breadth of Scotland ensuring that the interests of those with mental problems were appropriately upheld.


Last Updated: 24 January 2010 10:10 PM
Source: The Scotsman
Location: Edinburgh
Related Topics: Obituaries