Born: 17 May, 1928, in Aberdeen.
Died: 19 May, 2008, in Aberdeen, aged 80. ALEXANDER "Sandy" Innes was a pioneer of forensic psychiatry in Scotland and an inspired mentor to many of the doctors who worked with him and continu
e to use his ideas and methods in forensic units, prisons and courts throughout the country.
Sandy was born in Aberdeen in 1928, the second youngest in a family of five children. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School, where he developed a keen interest in hockey and cricket. He went on to university in Aberdeen to study medicine, playing hockey for the university team and representing Scotland in several international matches.
Hockey was a real passion for Sandy. Being a maverick, he helped set up an alternative and highly successful national touring side called the Thistles. In the early 1970s he became a selector for the Scottish side when they won the Grand Slam and was medical adviser to the British team for several years.
After graduating, he worked at Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen, where he started his career in psychiatry, greatly influenced by Dr Andrew Wyllie, the hospital's physician superintendent and Dr Helen MacLean. Sandy completed his national service at the air force's psychiatric centre at RAF Holton in Buckinghamshire. He then returned to Royal Cornhill hospital to continue his career and, in 1957, he married Sylvia Dick, a PE teacher whom he had met when she was a student at the Dunfermline College of Education. They had three children.
Sandy believed strongly in rehabilitation and helping his patients to regain their self-respect, dignity and self-esteem so they could make a positive contribution in society. He and Dr Wyllie set up a successful work therapy unit at Cornhill hospital, where patients could contribute to projects such as gardening, joinery and packing food hampers in a supportive and safe environment.
Sandy set up "Unicorn Enterprises" to provide sheltered employment in Aberdeen for patients with severe and enduring mental illness. He recognised the value of work to his patients and many people benefited greatly from this pioneering project. Sadly, in later years these ideas became unfashionable and Unicorn Enterprises was closed, a great personal disappointment to Sandy.
He continued Dr Wyllie's work, enlarging the clinics in Orkney, developing a lifelong affection for the people and the islands. He held outpatient clinics every couple of months for most of the 1970s and 1980s.
Sandy became consultant forensic psychiatrist for the Grampian Region in 1971 after spending some time working at the State Hospital in Carstairs which housed the most dangerous mentally ill individuals in Scotland. In ensuing years he ran an 80-bed unit, comprising two locked wards for men, a locked female ward and a rehabilitation flat.
Though many of his patients suffered chronic or relapsing conditions such as schizophrenia, manic depressive illnesses or disturbed personality disorders, which require detention, hospitalisation and medication, Sandy continued to apply his principles of meaningful occupation, continuity of care and long-term follow-up. He effectively ran a mixed medium and low-security service, way before its time, as a single-handed consultant for 20 years.
Sandy spent much of his time listening to, talking to, supporting and helping his patients and staff. Those who knew him and worked with him valued his direct approach and his use of plain English. He had a real skill in simplifying the complicated world of psychiatry and mental illness and a strong and sincere belief in providing effective treatment and rehabilitation.
Sandy was committed to the hospital and the service he set up and was the deputy superintendent physician for several years before becoming medical administrator. Though he did not suffer fools gladly and expected the same rigour and effort from staff as he put in, he was also a warm, kind and generous colleague and he invoked a strong loyalty among his team.
However, the long hours of the job took their toll on his health and he had become progressively dismayed by the loss of many of the positive features associated with the services he had championed and overseen for many years. He retired in 1990 and enjoyed his later years gardening and spending time at his cottage in the Aberdeenshire countryside, where he had spent many happy family holidays and where he had developed a love of hill walking.
Sandy truly cared for his patients, staff and service and is an unsung hero of forensic psychiatry. He had no interest in self-aggrandisement or being part of the medical establishment and did not have the time or the inclination to publish papers about his work. As a consequence, his considerable achievements and outstanding contribution to forensic psychiatry in Scotland will be acknowledged only by those who directly benefited from his work and by the legacy of doctors who served their apprenticeships with him.
The full article contains 817 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
