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Hospital Services
Napsbury Hospital remains the major psychiatric hospital providing cover for the
mentally ill in the Borough. However, we are particularly fortunate in having close
ties with the Teaching Hospitals in North West London, including St.Luke's, Woodside.
Hence, admission can to some extent be made to suit the particular patient's problem.
Napsbury Hospital also provides out-patient facilities at the two local General
Hospitals - this service being of particular advantage since Napsbury is situated some
considerable distance outside the catchment area which presents difficulties in
arranging early referral and maintaining contact with former patients. It is hoped that
in time, it was be possible to set up localised psychiatric services which will
alleviate, if not resolve, problems of distance, time and transport.
Other Mental Health Work
On the medical side, the Principal Medical Officer conducted seminars for pupil
midwives in the district on 'Psychiatric Problems of Pregnancy and Puerperium',
and gave courses of lectures on mental health to the local detachment of the British
Red Cross. In the field of addiction, liaison was maintained with other bodies
involved with this problem by the Principal Medical Officer, being a member of the
Drug Discussion Group at the King Edward VII Hospital Centre.
The number of notified Heroin addicts with addresses in the Borough remained
about 10. There is, however, an ominous increase in the number of L.S.D. and
Marijuana takers, particularly in the under 20's.
Community Care of the Subnormal and Severely Subnormal
Each year a great deal of thought is given to the type of community care service
which will best meet the different and complex needs of each family with a handicapped
child or adult. Every endeavour is made to co-ordinate the services to
provide not only "first aid", but supporting help and encouragement to assist the
family to achieve some measure of independence, irrespective of the degree of
handicap of the person in their care.
There is seldom a simple answer when a crisis situation arises, but it is only
through early intervention, skilled counselling and a wide range of day and
residential accommodation that these complex and often heart breaking problems
can be solved.
Training Schools
The provisions available in the two junior training schools have been found to be
adequate for present needs and, therefore, there is no immediate proposal to increase
the number of schools.
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