View report page

122
DOMICILIARY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
FOR THE HANDICAPPED
When one examines health and welfare functions, and
particularly the implications of the welfare services for the various
categories of handicapped persons, one is constantly finding that
the problems are neither simple nor static, for example, in the
services for the blind, the deaf, the dumb and the physically handicapped
one should be conscious that welfare in its broadest sense
embraces not only the actual welfare aspect, but cannot be divorced'
from rehabilitation, treatment or regular assessments and reassessments
of the degrees of disability. This approach, therefore,
requires the closest collaboration between all the many workers in
the medico-social and welfare field.
There have been and are great advances taking place not only
in sociology but in the realms of somatic and psychological
medicine and it seems important that officers responsible for
implementing welfare policy should be aware of the - enlarging
field of therapeutics and rehabilitation. Professional links must be
maintained and fostered with other specialists and other authorities,
particularly with hospital consultants and specialised hospital
departments. In addition, the recognition of the contribution which
a united and integrated departmental domiciliary team can make
avoids waste and duplication of effort.
The number of domiciliary visits recorded and the services
now being provided are a great credit to the officers concerned,
but I am sure that they are conscious of deficiencies and gaps which
the Council is anxious to overcome.
Mention is made in the report of the Workshop for the Blind,
which must be replaced and re-orientated to bring it into line with
modern industrial practice. Further social rehabilitation and
employment centres for the handicapped are also an urgent
necessity and their eventual provision will give the social welfare
officers an opportunity to enlarge their own contribution.
Efforts are also being made to make the register of physically
handicapped persons more comprehensive and the orthopaedic and
physical medicine departments of the local hospitals are being
invited to take a closer interest in our work. It is known that there
are many handicapped persons who for one reason or another are
not on the register of the Department and, as in the case of the
elderly where there has been great expansion over the years, handicapped
people and their families will be seeking assistance as the
Department's services become more widely known and appreciated
That is why it is important to encourage all outside agencies to look
to the Department as the local focal point for meeting the
domiciliary and community needs of the handicapped.