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Our staff consists of Dr. Stewart who attends on a sessional basis, Miss Blair, Miss Munster,
Miss Hanbury and Mr. Clark. Mrs. Penton was appointed by the City Council to the post of
domiciliary Occupational Therapist and works from the Terrace Day Centre.
The staff is concerned in some cases with the task of ensuring that a patient is taking medication
as prescribed. This is particularly important in cases of epilepsy and in some cases of schizophrenia
as neglect to do so may lead to relapse.
There is a difficult problem involving some patients referred who either do not attend for interview
or do not accept the help offered and revert into complete isolation. Our domiciliary
Occupational Therapist has been able to do valuable work in these situations. The City Council's
Mental Health Social Workers are also concerned in this problem but there still remain many people
who could be helped out of their isolation if means could be devised to do so.
Our patients are referred to us usually by Westminster Mental Health Social Workers but also
direct from psychiatrists at Mental Hospitals, Psychiatric Clinics and General Hospitals. We also
accept patients referred from general practitioners and various social services.
Occasionally a patient may be resident in Hospital and attend the Centre until fit enough to return
home, take up lodgings or enter a hostel.
We are indeed fortunate in the support and ready help given to us by the Westminster Mental
Health Social Workers under Mrs. Paterson. Liaison with these officers is so important and they
continually pay welcome visits to the Centre and are well known to the staff and patients.
We have had many visitors to the Centre interested in the rehabilitation of the mentally ill including
groups of nurses from Middlesex Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital who have observed
and joined in our activities as part of their training.
There always remains a hard core of patients who would never be able to tolerate the demands
of outside employment and for whom we provide custodial care. This is a valuable service in that
relatives are relieved of the patient during the day and able to pursue their own activities. Where
there are no relatives these patients are at least saved from reverting to social isolation.
Many of those unable to cope with ordinary work in industry might well graduate to a Sheltered
Industrial Unit perhaps as part of the Terrace Day Centre but conducted on purely commercial
lines and staffed by industrial supervisors.
At the Terrace we also conduct the Goodfellows Club which meets on a Wednesday evening.
This is a therapeutic social club for people in full-time employment who have difficulties in mixing,
as well as patients who are attending the Centre daily.
For these the day staff provide a light supper and some ex-patients now employed also attend,
keeping a link with the Centre, enabling us to follow up their progress.
The Terrace premises are made available on Monday evening for a Club for the Westminster
Mentally Handicapped young people and on a Tuesday evening a club is conducted by Westminster
Council for Social Service for unsupported mothers.
Throughout the year we have been encouraged in our work by the interest taken in the Centre
by Members of the Westminster City Council and the Health Committee. We have been honoured
by a visit from the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor C. A. Prendergast and Mrs. Prendergast,
the Lady Mayoress. Mr. Prendergast took a great interest in the Terrace Day Centre which was set
up during his period of office as Chairman of the Health Committee.
We have also been glad to welcome the present Chairman of the Health Committee, Councillor
M. V. Kenyon, M.A.
SOCIAL WORKERS (HEALTH SERVICES)
(Miss I. J. McFarlane, M.A., Principal Social Worker (Health Services) )
The social workers in this section of the Health Department report that 1968 has been a
particularly busy year and various new developments have taken place which are proving interesting
and stimulating. The public is using the department increasingly for general advice and information
and it is essential, therefore, that the staff is kept up-to-date with social legislation. In some cases
the role of the social worker is to assist people to use the services to which they are entitled by
right and there are straight-forward cases where this can be carried out quite easily. Often, however,