A PIONEER of mental health treatment is being honoured with the unveiling of a commemorative blue plaque.

Helen Boyle was Brighton’s first female GP and her ground-breaking approach to treating mental illness changed the lives of countless working class women in the city.

As well as working in general practice, Dr Boyle, who died in 1957, co-founded the Lewes Road Dispensary for Women and Children in Hanover.

She also opened the Lewes Road Hospital in Roundhill Crescent, Brighton, specifically for the treatment of working class women with early stage mental illness.

This hospital became known as the Lady Chichester Hospital and later transferred to Aldrington House in New Church Road, Hove.

Aldrington is now owned by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides care and treatment for people with conditions such as psychosis, depression, anxiety and dementia.

Sussex Partnership governor for Brighton and Hove, Karen Braysher, has been instrumental in helping to get the plaque installed.

She said: “ 'Dr Helen Boyle epitomised community-based preventative care, leading women physicians in providing short-stay and outpatient treatment for working class women and their children.

“She was a pioneer in a time of asylums and poor law institutions and in doing so she not only put Brighton and Hove on the map of mental health innovation, she placed the country at the frontier of mental health treatment.

“People travelled from all over the world to be seen by the doctors at the Lady Chichester Hospital.

''Displaying a commemorative blue plaque is an inspiring reminder of the many great achievements of Dr Boyle.

“It is important for Sussex Partnership to embrace that legacy and continue inspiring women doctors of the future, while striving to provide the best possible care to everybody who needs our support.”

Dr Boyle was also the first female president of the Medico-Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists) and the first female consultant psychiatrist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

The plaque will be unveiled by Brighton and Hove mayor Lynda Hyde during a special ceremony at Aldrington House on September 7.