View report page

Applications for the admission of their patients are made by consultant psychiatrists.
A mental welfare officer, the Warden and the Principal Medical Officer,
with whom the final decision rests, consider the suitability of the patient for
admission. It is in respect of the hostel residents that Dr. Kelsey, our psychiatric
adviser on mental illness, makes an important contribution.
The hostel is in the charge of a married couple, with the positions of warden
and housekeeper, who, with a resident assistant warden, a full-time cook and parttime
cleaner, comprise the full staff.
During the year there were 21 admissions and 10 discharges and the number
in residence at the end of the year was 11, eight of whom were in gainful
employment.
The Council continued to accept financial responsibility for the care and
maintenance of Enfield psychiatric patients, resident in mental after-care hostels
administered by voluntary associations. These included the S.O.S. Society and the
Mental After-Care Association. All these cases were thought to be unsuitable for
acceptance in the Council's own hostel. At the end of the year there were 16 such
patients resident in voluntary association hostels.
MENTAL SUBNORMALITY
The Borough is within the catchment area of South Ockendon and Harperbury
Hospitals, which admit patients requiring hospital care for mental subnormality.
Domiciliary Service
The reported number of subnormal persons residing in the Borough was 426.
The mental welfare officers paid 1,064 home visits and 40 office interviews were
carried out.
Much time is devoted to the parents in an endeavour to help them to come
to terms with the problems with which they are faced, and in assisting them to
provide an environment in which both the child and the family are more fitted to
enjoy a fuller life within the community.
52