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Health and Welfare Department,
Gateway House,
322 Regents Park Road,
Finchley, N.3.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Council of the London Borough of Barnet.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting my Report on the Health and Welfare services of the
Borough for the year 1968. As in previous years the Report covers all the main facets of
the Department's work.
Progress in the development of establishments continues and during the year a 40-place
purpose-built Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and a
purpose-built Adult Training Centre providing 40 places were opened. It was unfortunate
that due to staff recruitment difficulties a 10-place Hostel for Mentally Subnormal Children,
though completed in 1968, was unable to open as planned and which meant that the earliest
date when any cases could be admitted would be in early 1969. These were notable
advances in the development of specific services but, whilst economic considerations have
to be very much the order of the day, there is bound to be some delay in establishing a
number of projects which are necessary to further the progress of the Health and Welfare
day and residential services. The Council's plans however for the years ahead are realistic
in their conception and whilst only limited advances have so far been made, much has been
done to relieve pressures which the Department has experienced in respect of day and
residential care generally.
The development in 1967 of an In-Service Training Course, mainly for new recruits and
covering all disciplines employed within a Health and Welfare Department, was extended
so as to provide for two courses being run within a 12 month period and the second course
in 1968 was planned for one morning per week spread over nine weeks and which was
considered to be the necessary pattern to be adopted in future years. Invitations were
extended to other Departments of the Council to nominate persons for attendance who would
be particularly interested in certain aspects of the Health and Welfare services. The high
standard of lectures provided by senior members of the Department's staff was extremely
well received and the response from all participants confirmed the value of Local
Authority staff participation in courses of this nature and which, in many instances,
obviated the necessity of staff having to attend courses run by outside bodies. Another
aspect of training was the introduction, in co-operation with the Education Department, of
a Nursery Nurse Training Course at the Barnet College of Technology. I am confident
that the establishment of such a course will do much to relieve staffing difficulties in the
day nursery service and that future years will show the required number of qualified
staff being available for employment.
The downward trend continues in relation to live births, the corrected birth rate for
Barnet this year being 13.4 per 1,000 population compared to 14.3 (1967), 14.6 (1966) and
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