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Staff training
A feature of the year 1961 has been a marked expansion in volume and variety of the
department's provision of training facilities for its professional staff. These facilities may
be grouped as follows:
Short courses and conferences—Some 450 professional staff of the department, from a
wide range of services, attended 66 short courses and conferences arranged by outside
representative organisations. These figures do not include the attendance of senior staff at
conferences as official representatives of the Council. Because of the changes brought about
by the Mental Health Act, 1959 and the fact that many new staff were recruited in this field,
there was a particular demand for courses on various aspects of mental health.
Refresher courses for medical and nursery staff— Regular refresher training, on the basis
of attendance at a course of from one to two weeks' duration every five years for medical,
health visitor, school nursing and midwifery staff, has continued to be provided through
professional bodies such as the Society of Medical Officers of Health, the British Postgraduate
Medical Federation, the Royal College of Nursing, the Women Public Health
Officers' Association and the Royal College of Midwives. Refresher courses for day nursery
staff continued to be provided at the North Western Polytechnic.
Training for qualifications—In July, five of the department's social workers completed
one-year university professional courses for which they had been granted leave with pay
and in September a further five proceeded on leave for the same purpose. In addition,
two senior mental welfare officers were granted leave with pay for a pioneer two-year
course in general social work at the North Western Polytechnic, set up following the
recommendations of the Younghusband Report.
The University of London Institute of Education, Battersea College of Technology and
the Royal College of Nursing continued to provide theoretical instruction for the Council's
health visitor students, 49 of whom were undergoing training at the end of the year.
Approximately 40 per cent. (i.e., 198) of the health visitor students successfully trained
since 1948 and appointed to the Council's service as health visitors were still in the service
at the end of the year.
The Council's day nursery students, 190 of whom were undergoing training at the end
of the year, continued to receive their theoretical instruction at Wandsworth Technical
College, the Borough Polytechnic or the North Western Polytechnic.
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