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Admission to Hospital
Six mentally sub-normal persons were admitted to hospital, as needing the care
that only hospitals can provide.
The number awaiting admission at the end of the year was 14.
Guardianship and Informal Foster Care
No new patients were placed under guardianship during the year and at the
end of the year only two patients were under the formal guardianship of the Council.
Wherever practicable informal placements are made, and at the end of the
year 35 persons were placed in foster care in homes and hostels run privately or
by voluntary organisations. About two-thirds of these cases were placed with the
Guardianship Society, Hove, which has been most helpful in finding suitable homes
for patients, and their co-operation is greatly appreciated.
Temporary Care
To afford parents a measure of relief from the constant stresses that the care of
a subnormal child may cause, short term residential care is arranged, thereby often
allowing parents a well-earned holiday away from home. During 1965, such care
was provided for 24 patients by hospitals, and for 10 privately run establishments.
Homes and Hostels
There are no homes or hostels in the Borough at present, but provision for
two homes for adults and one for children is made in the Ten-Year Plan.
Holiday Camps
During the summer camps are held for children and adults. The Council
accepts financial responsibility for those attending, but each family makes a payment.
Council staff are released to supervise the campers.
This year, 8 children and 10 adolescents and adults had a holiday in this
way, at St. Mary's Bay Holiday Camps, at Romney Marsh, Kent, and Park Place
Residential School, Henley-on-Thames.
TRAINING
Mindful of the type of work to be done in the mental health field, and with a
wise eye to the future, the Council seconded two mental welfare officers to attend
the two year whole-time training course leading to qualification as a psychiatric
social worker.
Two Council-sponsored trainee assistant supervisors of mentally handicapped
children are attending a full-time two year course.
The deputy principal mental welfare officer and one of the seniors attended a
two-day course on mental health.
During the year two trainee mental welfare officers were trained in the department,
and on reaching the required standard were appointed to the establishment
as mental welfare officers.
The principal mental welfare officer and his deputy give lectures to student
nurses and health visitors.
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