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doctors than ever before are now being employed by the Borough
either as sessional medical officers at the clinics or as visiting
medical officers to the various establishments. Our social workers
are being welcomed into the hospitals and, in view of the shortage
of hospital medical social workers, they are undertaking duties on
behalf of the various hospital consultants. This is the sort of
co-operation that one finds most gratifying.
Cervical cytology clinics are screening each week a higher
proportion of women per population than any other borough in
the country, and the clinics are staffed exclusively by general
practitioner obstetricians.
In the field of mental health, the Maze Hill Junior Centre,
which opened towards the end of the year, is already earning a
high reputation as a pioneer in the field of education and training
of the severely mentally handicapped child. Day centre and hostel
provision for the mentally ill and handicapped now await Ministry
sanction, and the industrial centre has been expanded along more
ambitious lines.
In the welfare services, much preparatory work has been
undertaken for rapid advances in the services for the family and
for the handicapped and in relation to residential accommodation
for the aged. The local community geriatric services are already
most comprehensive and are meeting ever increasing needs. All
aspects of old people's welfare have been expanded and the
holiday hotel, after extensive adaptations which are at present
under way, will shortly be able to accommodate between 90 and
95 citizens per fortnight, including a substantial proportion of
severely handicapped. Welfare provision for the adolescent and
adult handicapped and the young chronic sick will require to be
given higher degrees of priority and efforts must be directed
towards obtaining a more accurate assessment of local needs. The
one rehabilitation centre which is in use is manifestly inadequate
and further facilities will be provided.
Turning to personal health, a new clinic at Abbey Wood has
been opened and the services brought closer to the general practitioners.
It is hoped that group practices in this area will grow
and flourish and this will give the Department the opportunity of
further participation on the community side of the work of the
family doctors. A Health Education section has been created and
an account of the year's activities is included. Midwifery and home
nursing have been unified under the one control and are now
geared to a Borough requirement, and the general practitioner
obstetricians and hospitals are now much more closely involved in
the local services.