View report page

- 47-
lines of those organised in the former County Council's divisions to secure the continued coordination
of social work.
With the establishment of the new borough on 1st April, 1965, a Borough Coordinating
Committee was formed with a membership comprising principal officers of those
departments of the Council concerned with social welfare work, together with representatives
of the I.L.E.A.'s administrative staff and school care organisers.
The first meeting of the Borough Co-ordinating Committee was heldon 14th April,
1965, and it was agreed that the Medical Officer of Health should act as Chairman. The
main committee decided to appoint an intermediate case conference sub-committee of which
the Deputy Medical Officer of Health was appointed to act as Chairman. The borough's
Principal Social Worker for the Health Services has acted as secretary to both the main
committee and the sub-committee.
It is not the function of the Borough Co-ordinating Committee, consisting as it
does of the Council's principal officers and the representatives of statutory and voluntary
agencies, to be concerned with ordinary casework; for the bulk of the families receiving
casework services, co-operation between field workers and the co-ordination of their efforts
is achieved through the medium of field workers' meetings and the intermediate case conferences.
This does not mean that the Borough Co-ordinating Committee is restricted to
consideration of matters of principle and policy and to the discharge of certain specific
delegated functions. Instances occur where families presenting complicated or intractable
problems will be referred up to the Borough Co-ordinating Committee for a decision on how
best to deploy the services and agencies available to meet the family situation, including
some where decisions have to be taken which could not appropriately be reached at a subordinate
level.
Encouragement is given to regular and frequent consultations between the field
workers of the several departments and agencies interested in any particular family. Additionally,
there are the intermediate case conferences where the more senior officers from the
various departments meet as required to consider action in regard to families whose difficulties
are or may soon be beyond the solution of the field workers or where the field workers need
help or guidance. These conferences, intermediate between field worker consultations and
the Borough Co-ordinating Committee, may be called on the initiative or in the offices of
officers of any of the Council's departments.
Up to the end of the year, three Borough Co-ordinating Committees and fifteen
intermediate case conferences had been held. At the case conferences, fifty-seven special
cases were considered.
Adequate records of the work with each family are kept so that another worker
can take over the case at any time if this is necessitated, for instance, by illness. These
records are also needed for the reassessment of the family situation at intervals as a check
on progress and for reports to the Borough Co-ordinating Committee. The case papers are
compiled by the caseworkerinitially from information supplied by other field workers as well •
as from herown observation and enquiries, and include notes on action taken andon changes
in the family's circumstances. The case worker decides whetheror not to record confidential
information on her case paper, but if such information is not recorded a note is made on the
case paper where further information of a confidential nature is available.
The social workers employed in the Council's health department are, by arrangement
with the I.L.E.A., particularly concerned with the follow-up of school children recommended
fortreatmentfollowingroutineschool medical inspections. The children are referred
to either a hospital or school clinic, according to the wishes of the parents, and in every
case (except for vision testing) the consent of the family doctor is obtained before any appointment
is made. The school treatment clinics provide sessions for vision, orthoptic, audiology,
ENT Special Investigation, deaf and speech therapy, and the social workers attend these
clinics to ensure that all medical recommendations are carried out.