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MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
An account of the historical development of the mental health services in London and
the implementation of the Mental Health Act, 1959 was given in my report for 1961,
(Appendix A).
The year has shown a steady expansion of the facilities available for persons suffering
from mental disorder, but it is realised that much more remains to be done on community
care generally and especially in the provision of residential accommodation. However,
the Council's first residential hostel for mentally ill persons and its first day special care
unit for mentally sub-normal children aged 5-16 years were opened during the year, thus
marking further milestones in the progress of the mental health service.
Training centres
To meet an increasing demand for places in south-west London, a new centre for 40
sub-normal and severely sub-normal older girls and women opened in Wandsworth in
September. In November, 20 extra places for older boys and men living in north-west
London were made available by increasing the accommodation of a centre in Kensington.
At the end of the year there were 23 training centres providing 1,455 places (755 in nine
junior centres, 335 in six centres for older boys and men—including 110 places in two
industrial centres, 365 in eight centres for older girls and women) and 34 persons were
awaiting entry.
Industrial work, with income shared between the trainees taking part, continued alongside
other training activities at most adult centres. As an experiment, in one centre paid
laundry work for the Council's service was introduced. The two industrial centres produced
goods valued at £2,225 for use in the Council's service and as a result of a larger turnover
it was possible to increase the ex-gratia payments made to the trainees in these centres to
three shillings a day.
Special care units—The first special care unit in Council premises was brought into use
in March in a specially adapted part of the Bethnal Green training centre. This provides
accommodation for twelve sub-normal boys and girls, aged between 5-16 years, who are
also severely physically handicapped or of such restless or aggressive behaviour that they
cannot be accepted for admission to an ordinary junior training centre. Due to a more
generous staffing ratio (one assistant supervisor and two attendants under the general
direction of the centre supervisor), the special care unit enables the children to be given
a greater amount of individual attention. Attendances were very good and the results
achieved most encouraging. All the children showed a significant improvement and in the
case of two of them this was sufficient to warrant their consideration for early transfer to
an ordinary junior centre.
Provision has been made in planning new junior training centres for the inclusion of a
special care unit and the practicability of adding further units to existing centres was being
actively considered at the end of the year.
The Council approved the payment to the Friends of the Centre for Spastic Children
of a contribution of 90 per cent. of the net annual cost of maintaining a special care unit
for sub-normal multi-handicapped spastic children at the Cheyne Walk Centre, Chelsea.
This unit, which was opened in November, provides for eight to twelve of these severely
handicapped children between the ages of 2 and 7 years.
Home teaching—At the end of the year home tuition was being provided for 43 mentally
sub-normal persons who were unable through physical handicap to attend training centres.
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