The hospital, which was designed by Francis Johnston and William Murphy, opened as the Waterford Asylum in 1835.[1] It became Waterford Mental Hospital in the 1920s and went on to become St. Otteran's Hospital in the 1950s.[1] It is named after local patron Saint Otteran. After the introduction of deinstitutionalisation in the late 1980s the hospital went into a period of decline.[2][3] However, despite calls for its closure, some long-stay residents remain in the hospital[4] and the Health Service Executive uses it as a base to provide social inclusion services.[5]