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mental illness; this includes the temporary care of patients from the community in circumstances
where a period of support away from the home surroundings might prevent
a more serious breakdown. Admissions are on a trial basis of normally one month; during
that time and, indeed, throughout the period of hostel stay, very active rehabilitation is
often necessary by the warden and the social worker to help the residents in the process
of readjustment. There were 17 persons in residence on 31 December.
During the year 28 girls were resident at the Council's Dover Lodge hostel, Lewisham,
for mentally sub-normal girls and nine remained in residence at the end of the year. This
compares with 29 and eight respectively in 1961.
Tenders for the erection of a purpose-built hostel in Lewisham have been received and
work is due to start early in 1963. Arrangements were nearing completion for the acquisition
or appropriation of sites for the erection in Paddington of a hostel for employable subnormal
males requiring long-term care and in Greenwich of a hostel for long-stay mentally
disordered children. The search for sites for further hostels for mentally disordered persons
was continuing at the end of the year.
Voluntary organisations—Hostels and homes maintained by voluntary organisations and
private persons continued to be used for both mentally ill and mentally sub-normal patients;
several additional establishments were approved for this purpose. At the end of the year
the Council was maintaining 152 mentally ill patients at a number of voluntary homes and
hostels, including those owned or sponsored by the Mental After-Care Association and
the S.O.S. Society, and 128 mentally sub-normal persons in various establishments,
including convents and other training establishments run by religious communities, placings
through the Guardianship Society of Brighton and at hostels established by the National
Association for Mental Health.
Short-term care—The provision of short-term care for mentally sub-normal persons in
hospitals or private homes approved by the Council's medical staff continues to grow.
During the year 580 persons were placed under these arrangements for periods normally
not exceeding eight weeks (compared with 427 in 1961). These facilties help to relieve
for short periods the strain of home care of children and adults by parents and relatives,
many of whom do not wish to place them in hospital or elsewhere on a long-term basis.
Hostel for alcoholics—Financial assistance, based on 90 per cent. of net running costs,
was continued to the West London Mission in respect of a hostel in Lambeth for male
alcoholics. The selection of residents for the hostel takes into consideration both the
need for rehabilitation and employment prospects. During the year 164 men were admitted;
38 from prison, 26 from Magistrates' Courts, 38 from hospitals and 62 from welfare organisations,
general practitioners or clinics. Of the 162 men discharged during the year, about
half were considered to have been successfully rehabilitated.
Recuperative holidays for psychiatric patients—During the year recuperative holidays of
two to three weeks were arranged for 125 persons recovering from psychiatric illness.
Community care
The number of mental health social workers was increased during the year from 81 to
102 (whole time equivalent) to meet the growing demands of the service. The integration
of the work has been to some extent hampered by the need for mental welfare officers to
serve on weekend and night rota duties and by changes of staff, but has gone ahead slowly
and fairly steadily.
There were 7,241 persons receiving community care at the end of 1962 compared with
6,053 for the previous year. The total number of mentally disordered persons referred to
mental health social workers increased from 8,258 (1961) to 9,801 (1962). Links with the
catchment area hospitals were improved and strengthened during the year, assisted in
some divisions by the development of the day hospitals.
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