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A DAY CENTRE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
At the formation of the London Borough of Barking in April, 1965,
the newly formed Health Committee of the Council was presented with a
suggested programme of development of services for the mentally ill and
the mentally sub-normal. The general acceptance of this programme meant
that whereas the desirability of a day centre for the mentally ill was
realised, other projects had priority over it by reason of the already
established urgency for them.
However, as the team of mental welfare officers was built up with
increasing links with family doctors and the local mental hospital, etc.,
the need for strengthening the community care service with a day centre
became more apparent. By a quirk of the hospital catchment area allocation
Barking people were constrained to look to Warley Hospital (some 8 to 12
miles distant according to where they lived in the Borough) for the main
centre for both in-patient and out-patient attendance for psychiatric treatment.
The need for providing a local focal point for community care services became
increasingly obvious and fortunately a former Methodist Church in the
geographical centre of the town was offered for sale to the Council in the
Spring of 1966 and it was agreed that the Health Committee had an overriding
priority for acquiring it as a Day Centre for the Mentally Ill.
In late 1966 the building, about 40 years old, was acquired for £23,000
and it was decided that alterations and repairs would be kept to a minimum
so that when more experience of the Centre was known a firmer and more
practical development programme could be arranged. Initially, therefore, some
£3,000 was spent on adapting and putting the building in good order, including
the installation of a new gas central heating system to replace a coke-fired
installation which had seen better days and which did little or nothing to
dispel the arctic conditions of a winter's day.
By the Spring of 1967 the adapted building was ready for occupation.
Accommodation
Fortunately the building, which has a substantial piece of land
attached to it, had been designed to include secular activities sponsored by
the church and minimal alterations gave the following accommodation:-
Main Hall - 28' 56'
Work Room - 40' * 20'
Dining Room - 36' * 16'
Quiet Room - 20' * 30'
Office
Medical Room and Sick Bay
Store Room
Kitchen
Main Hall - It was decided that this should be left as uncluttered as possible
and therefore only contains a plentiful supply of stackable chairs and a half
size billiard table presented by the local voluntary Mental Health Association.
It is used for evening social activities and during the daytime for occupational
therapy and contract work not requiring mechanical aids. It also proves most
useful when sales of work, bazaars, etc., are held to raise money for the Centre's
Amenity Fund. It is also used on a Wednesday afternoon by an Old People's Club
which was established sometime ago and which on the take-over of the building
was given grace to continue pending alternative accommodation being found.
Work Room - This has been fitted with work benches and some machinery for metal
and woodwork.
Dining Room - This is kept exclusively for protracted "elevenses", lunches
and the afternoon break.
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