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148
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
With regard to these services the close of the current year was
marked, nationally, by the raising of the question as to which
authority (education or health) was better suited to undertake the
training and education of the mentally sub-normal child.
It would appear that, in present circumstances, parents of some
mentally handicapped are concerned that their children may not
be receiving the best possible education and training commensurate
with their abilities or aptitudes.
Briefly, the present position may be summarized thus : —
Under Section 57 of the Education Act, 1944, as amended by
the Mental Health Act, 1959, a local education authority must
ascertain which children in its area are suffering from mental disability
such as to make them unsuitable for education at school.
Training of children so designated then becomes the responsibility
of the local health or hospital authority. Indeed, in accordance
with Section 12 of the Mental Health Act of 1959, a local health
authority has the power to compel attendance at a training centre
of any such child of school age.
The provision of training centres and residential accommodation
for the mentally handicapped is a duty placed upon local health
authorities under Section 28 of the National Health Service Act,
1946, as extended by Section 6 of the previously mentioned Mental
Health Act.
Inevitably, many cogent arguments will be advanced for and
against local health authority control but, in the ultimate analysis,
it is not administrative convenience that should determine future
patterns but the quality of the service and its ability to benefit the
mentally handicapped child. However, it would seem logical that,
whichever authority is finally made responsible, the disturbing
possibility of transfer and re-transfer from one authority to another
should be eliminated.
Experience, locally, shows that the majority of these mentally
handicapped will need either supervision or social welfare support
beyond school age and this will fall to local authorities to supply.
Early settlement of such a vital issue is important not only in
the best interests of the children themselves but also from a
planning aspect which, subject to the eventual decision, may require
substantial re-organisation and/or re-orientation.
General
During 1967, mental health services continued as previously,
the introduction of improvements and new facilities being severely
curtailed by financial expediency.