View report page

5
ment, the Welfare Department and a Voluntary Association. In
conjunction with the Welfare Committee and Department and the
Wandsworth Old People's Welfare Council, this position was
rationalised and the Health Department given the responsibility
for organising this service.
As regards the development of the services, fairly full accounts
are given in the various sections of the Report and here I need only
touch upon one or two of the more interesting features.
One development to which I would particularly draw attention
was the inauguration of the flatlets for mentally disordered patients
in conjunction with Chellow Dene Hostel. The idea of having
flatlets linked with the Hostel had been in mind for a considerable
time and we were extremely fortunate during the year to obtain,
through the help and co-operation of the Housing Committee, the
opportunity to acquire this particular house and to put our ideas
into practice. I should like to thank the Chairman and members of
the Housing Committee for making this possible. The premises
consist of a house with ten self-contained bed-sitting rooms, tastefully
furnished and provided with all modern amenities (see centre
pages for photographs). Bathroom and sanitary accommodation is
provided on a communal but fully adequate basis. The residents
are selected, mainly but not invariably, from patients residing in
Chellow Dene. The idea is to provide a third stage towards their
full rehabilitation into the community. Thus, a patient who, following
hospital treatment, had recovered sufficiently to enter Chellow
Dene would be eligible for one of these flatlets provided that he
had made progress in the hostel but had not reached the stage
where he was suitable for discharge home. The Warden of Chellow
Dene keeps closely in touch with the residents of the flatlets and
they in turn usually maintain links with the hostel where they
are able to take some of their meals if they so wish. It is not
intended that these flats should be let on a permanent basis to the
residents and we hope to have a reasonable turnover of lettings.
A reasonable stay would be for a year or 18 months after possibly
six or twelve months in a hostel. At the time of writing, there is
every reason thus far to be satisfied with the results of this
experiment but it is, of course, too early to say how it will work
out in the long term. A problem which we may have to face is the
resident who has become sufficiently recovered to take his place in
the community as a normal individual but is yet unwilling, or at
least reluctant, to give up a very satisfactory residence. I would
hope to deal with this aspect in future reports.
During the year, after very helpful discussions with the Chairman
and Secretary of the Local Family Planning Association, a
new agreement was reached on the financial help which the Corporation
would make available to the Family Planning Association.
The aim was to effect a streamlining of the arrangements, to avoid
unnecessary accounting and to ensure that every woman who