The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) (formerly known as the Institute of Psychiatry) was a postgraduate institute of the University of London and, since August 1997, has been a faculty of King’s College London. Opened in 1923, it began as the only postgraduate institution in the United Kingdom devoted to the study and practice of psychiatry and related disciplines. It shares the same site as the Maudsley Hospital which was part of the Maudsley and Bethlem NHS Trust and is now part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
The origins of the IoPPN date back to 1896 when the eminent neurologist Dr Frederick Mott put forward proposals for the then novel concept of university level training courses in subjects related to psychiatry. However, it was not until 1914 that Mott’s idea began to bear fruit when the London County Council agreed to establish the hospital in Denmark Hill with the assistance of a generous donation from Dr Henry Maudsley after whom it is named.
Within ten years, the associated Maudsley Hospital Medical School had come to be officially recognised by the University of London and the new school retained this title until 1948 when it became a founding member of the newly formed British Postgraduate Medical Federation and changed its name to the Institute of Psychiatry. Later in the same year, the Maudsley Hospital was amalgamated with the Bethlem Royal Hospital to form a joint teaching hospital.
In 1999 the Bethlem and Maudsley NHS Trust merged with the Lewisham and Guy’s Mental Health Trust and the Lambeth Healthcare NHS Trust to form a new trust called the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, which is the largest mental health trust in the country.