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51
Officers (one away on Younghusband course), 1 Senior Mental
Welfare Officer, all under the general direction of the Principal
Mental Welfare Officer.
The division into three areas each with the office situated at:
The former County Offices, The Walnuts, Orpington;
17, Palace Grove, Bromley;
69, Croydon Road, Penge, S.E.20,
has been maintained, while the Borough has a round-the-clock
service, weekends and public holidays included, with all the
M.W.O.s taking their turn on the duty roster.
The division into three areas remains necessary for geographical
reasons and we are frequently reminded of the fact that
Bromley, the largest of the London Boroughs in area, covers more
than 60 square miles and that many parts are inaccessible by public
transport.
Statutory Functions
The statutory duties of the M.W.O. are often forgotten,
especially by the lay people who are under the impression that since
the Mental Health Act, 1959, the patient must give his/her consent
before he/she is admitted to hospital. The table below gives the
number of admissions where the M.W.O. was involved:

It would be noted that there is an increase of Section 25
admissions, doubtless due to more psychiatrists' time available and
used for this purpose. The two-and-a-half-fold increase in informal
admissions reflects the general effect of mental health education.
M.W.O. as a Specialised Social Worker
The concept of the specialised social worker carrying out
statutory duties is a fairly new one, but has been accepted in other
fields, e.g. child care. However, not all local health authorities have
adopted such policy and several comparable London Boroughs
engage two distinct categories of staff, i.e. P.S.W.s for intense case
work and M.W.O.s for statutory duties and general support only.