View report page

PERSONAL HEALTH
to Health in the Community", was designed by the Health Education Officer.
Members of the Health Department staff, as well as outside speakers, gave
the lessons, and the class teachers, all very much involved, continued to use
the teaching material, often throughout the day. The Course was very much
appreciated by both teachers and pupils.
The Health Education Officer has spoken at seven meetings of Parents/
Teacher Associations on various health topics.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the health education section's work during
1971 was the filming of anti-smoking education at Carterhatch Junior School
for a television programme in the Panorama series early in the year.
Mental Health Act 1959
Health Services and
Public Health Act 1968
Local Authority Social
Services Act 1970
Mental Health
It has been the duty of a local health authority to provide mental health
services under the Mental Health Act 1959 and subject to the provisions of
Section 12 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968. The Local
Authority Social Services Act 1970 transferred to the Social Services
Committee and Social Services Department, on 1st April, 1971, responsibility
for much of the Mental Health Service; consequently, this section of the
report covers only the first three months of the year.
The provision of residential accommodation continues to be an important
feature of community care services. The Council's "Windsmill Recuperative
Hostel affords accommodation for those recovering from mental illness but
recourse to voluntary homes and hostels for this class of patient continues to
be necessary. The Council's purpose-built "Cheviots" hostel for twenty
mentally subnormal children was opened on 1st January, 1971, and the first
of two twenty-place hostels for subnormal adults - in Montagu Road - was
in an advanced state of construction on 31st March.
The total of all classes of the mentally disordered maintained in residential
accommodation - whether local authority hostels, homes run by voluntary
associations or in private households - was 95 on 31st March.
Mental Illness
The London Borough of Enfield is within the catchment area of Claybury
and Friern Hospitals, to which patients requiring hospital treatment for
mental disorder are admitted. The North Middlesex Hospital provides
psychiatric beds in a modern unit to which suitable patients are admitted
for short-term observation and treatment. Outpatient clinics are held at
North Middlesex, Chase Farm, Highlands and War Memorial Hospitals.
A 24-hour mental health community service continued to be provided by the
Health Department which had established close liaison with the other social
work departments and with the consultants at the local hospitals.
Domiciliary Service
Persons who are, or who have been, suffering from mental disorder are
referred from a number of sources for care and support in their own homes.
The majority of cases are referred by general practitioners. Up to 31st March,
102 patients were referred for supportive after-care and the number of home
visits to mentally ill patients totalled 1,069 in addition to 154 office
interviews.
42