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Hostel for
mentally
defective girls
under
guardianship
In June, 1954, the Council approved a scheme for the adaptation of premises in
south-east London as a hostel for mentally deficient girls leaving special E.S.N, schools
who have no suitable homes of their own. Considerable alterations and adaptations to the
premises were to be carried out and it was anticipated that the hostel would be ready
for occupation in May, 1955. The hostel will accommodate 12 girls at first but this
number may be increased later up to 18.
Short-term
care
In accordance with the provisions of Ministry of Health circular 5/52, temporary
care was provided by the Council for 47 patients (7 adults and 40 children) at various
approved and private homes because of family difficulties or emergencies. The weekly
cost of this accommodation varied from approximately £2 to £6 6s. a patient. Patients
or relatives were assessed to contribute towards the cost according to their means.
It is hoped that more accommodation for children under 16 years of age will become
available nearer London in due course if proposals of the Middlesex County Council
to open a short-stay home at Hillingdon, Middlesex, are implemented. The Middlesex
County Council has offered to allow a number of beds at the home to be used for
London children needing temporary care on payment of the cost by the Council.
In addition to the 47 patients mentioned above, 72 patients (19 adults and 53 children)
were admitted to mental deficiency institutions for temporary care under the provisions
of Circular 5/52. The total number of London defectives provided with short-term
care was 119 during 1954 compared with 92 during 1953.
Home tuition
In March, 1954, the Council authorised the engagement of a qualified teacher to
provide tuition for three sessions a week in her own home for a child aged 14 years. The
child who had been reported by the Council's Education Committee as ineducable, was
deaf and dumb as well as mentally deficient, and had been found after trial to be unfit
for attendance at an occunation centre.
Welfare
clinics for
backward
children
under five
During the year it became clear that the special welfare clinic for mentally backward
children which had been established in east London as an experiment was successfully
meeting a need and it was decided therefore to set up similar clinics in other parts of
London. Six additional clinics were opened during the year and the whole of the County
thereby provided with this service. A medical officer experienced in mental deficiency
and in maternity and child welfare work is in charge of each clinic, assisted by a nurse
and a social worker. The service will be reviewed during 1955 and any necessary
adjustments made to ensure a comprehensive service.
Investigation
into effects
of mental
deficiency
In January, 1954, the Council authorised the granting of facilities to the Institute of
Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, S.E.5 to conduct a family survey of the conditions
under which low grade mentally defective persons, whose homes are in London, were
living. The inquiry will be concerned primarily with the social and psychological
problems imposed on families with a grossly defective member and will cover the
families of defectives living at home and of those in institutions. It is understood that the
Institute proposes to arrange for the results of the inquiry to be published in due course.
Students
During the year facilities were given for a number of students taking university
courses of training in social science to spend short periods in the district offices of the
supervision section to enable them to gain practical experience in mental deficiency
social work. Facilities were also given for some students to witness the presentation of
petitions to Judicial Authorities for orders under the Mental Deficiency Acts.
Accommodation
Occupation centres
The completion of the adaptation of premises at No. 9 Spencer Park, Wandsworth
Common, and at 86 Fulham High Street (referred to in the Report for 1953) enabled
both buildings to be brought into full use for juniors, and provided increased accommodation
for children from the former Earlsfield and Hammersmith junior centres.
The new centres are known respectively as the Wandsworth and Fulham centres. The
rented accommodation at Earlsfield was taken into use for the elder girls' centre, which
had been temporarily accommodated at 86 Fulham High Street, and the Hammersmith
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