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Incontinence Pads
A scheme for the provision of incontinence pads, mainly through the Home Nursing
Service, was commenced in 1965, and during the year some fifty patients being nursed
at home were provided with them. Arrangements were agreed with the Borough's Cleansing
Superintendent for their disposal with ordinary household refuse, each pad being
provided with a polythene bag and a wire strip for sealing.
Mental Health
During the year under review, the mental health service in Islington developed
considerably. At 1st April 1965, the number of social workers in the Mental Health
team, including the Principal and her Deputy, totalled 12, and by the end of the year,
this increased to 14. Most of the social workers carried a mixed case load of
mentally ill and subnormal patients and 2 part-time occupational therapists visited
mentally disturbed patients at home. A social worker attended the surgery of a
group practice of general practitioners for one session weekly to interview and give
case work support to selected patients.
There was closer liaison with the main catchment hospital for psychiatric
patients, the Council's social workers paying regular weekly visits to the hospital
to see patients and attend ward rounds. An increasing number of patients are being
referred for community care. The total number in community care at the end of the
year was 697.
Two day centres for psychiatric patients were opened during 1965, one at the end
of May and the other in October, providing a total of 50 places. One of these was
run on industrial lines with sub-contract work being the main activity. The other,
which was under the direction of a qualified occupational therapist, had a rather
more permissive approach geared to the needs of individual patients, most of whom are
disturbed adolescents. Total attendances at these centres in 1965 were 1,805.
There were two senior training centres for the mentally subnormal in the Borough,
the Camden Road and Archway centres, providing accommodation for 40 female and 40 male
adult trainees. Total attendances at these centres during the period 1st April to
31st December 1965, were 7,708. The Council approved in principle plans to adapt a
disused Community Centre on a housing estate to provide more suitable premises for the
Archway Senior Training Centre which is inadequately accommodated in a Church Hall.
Junior subnormal boys and girls attended training centres in the Borough of Hackney.
Work on a new purpose-built junior training centre, to be called the Rosemary Junior
Training School, planned and started by the former London County Council, was however
nearly completed by the end of 1965 for opening early in 1966. This centre is planned
to accommodate 112 children, including a special unit for 12 severely handicapped
children.
Two special assessment and advisory clinics, providing approximately three sessions
monthly, were conducted by one of the Principal Medical Officers, who specialised in
mental subnormality, and who also sometimes visited young children at home who. for
various reasons, were unable to attend the clinics. Although the clinics were mainly
for mentally backward children under 5 years of age, arrangements were occasionally
made for children with other handicaps to attend for assessment purposes. The total
number of sessions held in the nine months ended 31st December 1965 was 18, and attendances
totalled 41.
During the year arrangements were made for 46 mentally sub-normal patients to be
provided with short term residential care, 22 at the Council's expense and 24 in
National Health Service hospitals, and at the end of the year the number of patients
supported financially by the Council in various residential homes and hostels totalled
37 (15 mentally ill and 22 mentally sub-normal and severely sub-normal).
The Council arranged an emergency service jointly with the neighbouring Borough
of Hackney for dealing with urgent cases at night time and at weekends. This is
referred to in more detail elsewhere in this report. The number of mental health
emergency calls dealt with through these arrangements in the nine months ended 31st
December 1965 totalled 109.
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