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9
Health and Welfare Department,
Municipal Offices,
Royal Hill. S.E.10.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
London Borough of Greenwich.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am privileged to present this account of the health and community
care services of the London Borough of Greenwich for 1967.
The reorganisation of the Department, begun last year, has now
been completed with the formation of a Community Care Branch
which embraces all the social work undertaken in the Department.
Allied to the idea of mixed teams of health and social workers has
been the creation of combined occupation centres, day centres and
day clubs for the mentally ill, the physically handicapped and the
elderly. Professional workers from many disciplines, with varied
interests and enthusiasms, can now identify themselves positively
with field establishments and can discuss with supervisors at the
centres the specific needs of their clients. After several months it
is clear that this concept of mutual support and interdependence
within a single organisation is sound and now forms a firm
foundation on which to expand existing services and to examine
new thoughts in the social field.
Undoubtedly this Department, providing a wide and diverse
range of health and social services on behalf of the Council, will
be concerned for a considerable period with meeting community
needs which are already clearly identifiable. Nevertheless, the
purse is not limitless and the resources which can be made avail
able to the Department must therefore be husbanded and deployed
to the best advantage, while some objective assessment of value
for money must be applied. I am aware that in the social field this
can be difficult, but an attempt must be made and the issue cannot
be evaded. Vague generalities and verbal obscurities must be
avoided and. above all, we must subject our theories and our actions
to a rigorous scrutiny and evaluation.
There is also much careless talk about prevention in the social
field. One can understand preventing an infectious disease by a
process of immunisation, because here we are dealing with direct
cause and effect, but is there any evidence that so-called preventive
measures in the social field, based on no solid criteria, result in
fewer pressures on the community services or create a happier and
more contented society? Regrettably, the evidence is to the