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care children and provide full physical and mental assessment while the children
are in hospital. This essential provision applies, unfortunately, only to those
children who live in the catchment area of S.W. Regional Hospital Board. Some
general hospitals (Belgrave, King's College, St. Thomas' and St. George's) who are
not strictly bound by the catchment area, help to relieve social pressure on the
families of handicapped children by admitting them, at our request, for several
weeks of rest. Very often the severely mentally handicapped child creates great
problems for the staff in Children's Medical Wards, but never yet has a socially
needy child been refused, and this is greatly appreciated by us.
King's College Hospital hold regular four-weekly conferences with the
representatives of local authorities, to discuss the action for physically damaged
children, integrating all available services.
It would be appropriate to finish this report by stating the aims which
guide the work of the Observation/Handicap Register: it is to develop the
capacities of handicapped children "spiritually, intellectually, socially and
physically to the highest level consistent with the degree of their handicap,
with due regard to the welfare of their families and of the public generally".
(Guy Wigley).
(Sgd) Dr. O. Nietupska
Senior Medical Officer