Kenneth Arthur Day

Ken Day’s memorial service brought out the remarkable breadth of his talents. This was to be expected, but what was a surprise was how few people knew their full extent, and how far he had undersold himself.

Everyone knew Ken the learning disability psychiatrist. He had been assigned arbitrarily to the specialty in 1966 and to Northgate Hospital, where he stayed until he retired in 1996 as its medical director. His successor commented: “If Northgate was a stick of rock, the letters running through it would be Kenneth Arthur Day.” Ken’s stamp was to promote his patients’ perspective, whether they were people he was treating, people he was assessing as a tribunal psychiatrist, or a group that found itself the focus of service development. He brought enthusiasm and expertise to all of these roles but particularly to his work with offenders. This …