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11
Section 51, Mental Health Services
The most important feature since 1948 has been the cooperation
on a voluntary basis between the staffs of the mental
hospitals and the health department. It is probable that the
experience thus gained of mutual benefit in Croydon and elsewhere
has been an important factor in shaping the legislation
now being passed.
In the field of mental deficiency, the Corporation enlarged
and improved the Occupation Centre for mental defectives, which
is now conducted very much on the basis of a school for educationally
sub-normal children. Two classes do deal with defectives
over school age, but for the men, a specially trained
handicraft instructor is in charge and a scheme for paid employment
is operating.
In the prevention of mental ill health, lectures and inservice
training by regular group discussions with psychiatrists
have been developed. This has allowed emphasis on preventive
mental health in the maternity and child welfare services of the
local authority.
During the last ten years, when the National Health Service
has been operating, one point has clearly emerged, namely, the
relative ease of co-operation between the three branches of the
service, which is possible when each is concerned with approximately
the same social unit. The Executive Council, the Group
Hospital Management Committee and the local authority all bear
the name "Croydon" and if their efforts benefit the residents of
this area, they are not greatly concerned at the exact machinery
necessary to achieve an advantage for the town as a whole. At
member level, therefore, there is pressure upon the officers to
co-operate to produce the required results by unity rather than
rivalry. I do not suggest that the contrary is to be found with
other forms of local government or that difficulties may not
arise where there are conditions similar to those in Croydon. I
merely make the point that our experience has shown the possibilities
of good co-ordination within the existing legislative
framework.
Living through a period when history 1s being made is always
exciting, often alarming and sometimes dangerous. The founders
of the Corporation chose as their motto - "Sanitate Crescamus"
and in the history of the County Borough apart from minor setbacks,
succeeding generations have upheld this principle. If we
can equal or surpass the improvements of the last ten years, we
need not be ashamed of the records we shall add to the annals of
Croydon.
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