London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1961
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
Community care—Persons suffering or suspected to be suffering from mental illness
referred specifically for community care through the mental health services during 1961
totalled 1,408, compared with 361 such persons in 1959. Table (iv) shows the action taken
relating to these referrals.
Table (iv)—
| No. | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital care: Informal admission | 32 | 2.3 |
| Compulsory admission | 6 | 0.4 |
| Psychiatric out-patient clinic or day hospital | 20 | 1.4 |
| Community care of mental health service | 1,113 | 79.1 |
| Other community care, e.g., Welfare or Children's dept., general practitioner, probation officer, etc. | 61 | 4.3 |
| No further action | 176 | 12.5 |
| No. of persons involved | 1,408 | 100.0 |
At the end of 1961, 1,321 mentally ill persons and 4,732 mentally subnormal or severely
subnormal were receiving some form of community care. Table (v) analyses the various
types of care being given, from which it will be seen that 5,724 persons were being visited
by mental health social workers, 304 were being provided with residential accommodation
and 1,430 were receiving training at day centres or in their own homes.
Table (v)—
| Type of care received | Mentally ill | Mentally subnormal or severely subnormal | Grand total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 16 years | Over 16 years | All ages | ||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |||
| Residential home, hostel, convent, etc. | 165 | 15 | 1.1 | 57 | 1.7 | 72 | 1.5 | 237 |
| Boarded out | - | 4 | 0.3 | 63 | 1.8 | 67 | 1.4 | 67 |
| Home training | 13 | 18 | 1.4 | 22 | 0.6 | 40 | 0.8 | 53 |
| Attendance at day centres for mentally ill | 85 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 85 |
| Attendance at social clubs for mentally ill* | 67 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 67 |
| Training centres for subnormal and severely subnormal | - | 719 | 55.1 | 573 | 16.7 | 1,292 | 27.3 | 1,292 |
| Receiving visits from m.w.o. or p.s.w. | 1,132 | 1,267 | 97.0 | 3,325 | 97.1 | 4,592 | 97.0 | 5,724 |
| Other types of community care | 12 | 23 | 1.8 | 29 | 0.8 | 52 | 1.1 | 64 |
| No. of persons involved | 1,321 | 1,306 | 100.0 | 3,426 | 100.0 | 4,732 | 100.0 | 6,053 |
*Some patients who are not included were attending clubs which receive financial or other help from the
Council.
Referrals of mentally subnormal and severely subnormal persons—Of the 1,100 mentally
subnormal and severely subnormal persons referred to the mental health services during
the year (table (vi)), 127 (11.6 per cent) related to children who had been found unsuitable
for education at school and 443 (40.2 per cent) were school-leavers. Residential
134