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50
SOCIAL WORK (PERSONAL HEALTH)
Apart from the social workers employed in the Mental Health Section, 24 are employed in personal
and school health work.
Social work help is now accepted much more readily by people from every stratum of society and
to meet the need highly skilled case work help is often required. Members of the public are increasingly
seeking help with deep-seated marital problems or difficulties in relationships. Many prefer to come
to City Hall instead of being visited at home; students and housewives come during working hours
and business people at lunch-time or in the evening. The staff vary their hours to suit the needs of
their clients. The number of such referrals has increased significantly during the year.
As an adjunct to the social work services provided by the Health Department, a most successful
development took place during 1969 of the Youth Advisory Service, which grew from the family
planning counselling service set up in 1968. An evening session is held weekly at Hallfield Clinic,
and an afternoon session which was formerly held at the Westminster Council House clinic was
transferred in September, 1969, to nearby premises in Nottingham Place. Both these sessions are
attended by a medical practitioner who is specially skilled in youth counselling, and a psychiatric
social worker from the Health Department's staff.
Seventy-eight clinic sessions were held during the year involving some 471 personal interviews.
An ever-increasing amount of follow-up work is essential because of the nature of the problems
presented and the high degree of unhappiness and disturbance found in many of the young people.
Clients are also seen almost every day by the department's social workers at the City Hall.
An essential part of this work is to maintain contact with Colleges for Further Education, unattached
youth workers, club leaders, social workers at drug addiction centres and with other agencies
involved in helping adolescents. Many of the referrals come from such agencies and from health
visitors also, but the number of self-referrals has increased too.
Five social workers attend the special investigation clinics which are an extension of the school
health service. During the year there were 156 new referrals and 516 attendances were made at 172
clinic sessions. The majority of new referrals were for nocturnal enuresis, but many attended for
obesity or for minor behaviour problems. The parents of all children are interviewed by a social
worker before the child is seen; through such contacts the social workers are able to help with
disturbed family relationships, housing difficulties, etc.
Towards the end of the year consideration was given to provision of a case work service for the
families of children attending special schools. A psychiatric social worker is in charge of this
development.
One member of the staff is responsible for the social work connected with children who are deaf or
partially hearing. Besides her regular attendance at the audiology clinic, she made 49 visits during
the year.
Another member of the staff is employed full-time with families who have special difficulties;
the work is usually very long-term and involves frequent home visits and close liaison with many
statutory and voluntary bodies. Seven other social workers also have limited case-loads of similar
families, in addition to their other work. At the end of the year the total number of families being
assisted was 59 and during the year 1,100 home visits had been made in addition to 150 interviews
at City Hall.
Two members of staff work full-time with unsupported parents. The volume of work has increased
steadily as the service has become better known. The overwhelming problem is still that of accommodation
for pregnant girls and mothers with a young child. There were 162 new referrals during the
year, giving a total current case-load of 109.
The social workers attached to the Chest Clinics, besides dealing with the problems customary to
their work, have become concerned about the problem of alcoholism. They are working as a group to
study this question. There were during the year 374 new referrals to the social workers.
The work of the social workers attached to clinics for venereal disease is separately dealt with
on page 55.
Three social workers concentrate their efforts on the frail elderly. As has been mentioned elsewhere
in this Report, Westminster has a high proportion of elderly residents. The social workers give a great
deal of personal support to their clients and maintain close co-operation with colleagues within and
outside the Health Department, and with general practitioners. During the year there were 482 new
referrals; the case load at the end of the year was 1,102 and 5,627 home visits were made.