A DOCTOR will deliver a talk on how LSD was used to treat patients in a Worcestershire mental hospital.

Dr Mark Gallagher is due to speak about the use of the psychedelic drug in Powick Hospital, at a lecture on Thursday, July 13.

The event will be held at the George Marshall Medical Museum, in Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Charles Hastings Way, Worcester.

Dr Gallagher will discuss the purpose-built LSD unit at the hospital, which opened in the 1950s.

His will also talk about the leading role of famed psychologist Dr Ronald Sandison, who started clinical use of the drug at Powick.

A spokesman for the George Marshall Medical Museum said: "Particular attention will be given to the circumstances around the introduction of LSD therapy and the construction of the LSD Unit at Powick.

"Also the ways in which the environmental setting of the treatment was considered to be an integral factor in the therapeutic efficacy of the substance.

"And finally how LSD therapy at Powick served as a model for an emerging international network of psychiatrists and psychotherapists experimenting with the drug in clinical practice during the 1950s and 1960s."

The event will also include speakers talking about the history of hospital buildings in Worcestershire and readings by local poets. 

Tickets for the event cost £3.50 and the talks will begin at 7pm.

To book a place ring 01905 760738 or email RSVPlecture@gmail.com.

Powick Hospital, formerly Worcester County and City Lunatic Asylum, closed in 1989 and the site has been almost completely demolished.

A plaque to remember the hospital was unveiled on The Crown pub, in Malvern Road, Powick, on Tuesday, June 27.