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WESTMARSH LODGE
Wastmarsh Lodge is a purpose-built hostel offering a permanent
placement for 30 mentally subnormal and severely subnormal
men and boys in the age group 16 to 60, whose I.Q.'s range
from the twenties to the seventies. The residents include those who
are also suffering from another handicap, such as speech impairment,
epilepsy, incontinence, psychotic overlay and in one boy
autistic-like withdrawal. The majority of the residents attend the
training centre at Gallows Corner. They are all in receipt of
National Assistance Benefit and contribute towards the cost of
their maintenance in the hostel. Four residents were able to follow
remunerative employment during the year 1965, and two of them
were discharged into lodgings and continued in their jobs. The
hostel care focused on personal independence, social and emotional
development as well as sports and team activities out of doors.
The hall at the Training Centre is available for the residents during
winter weekends and holidays. Though the hostel is a non-familiar
setting, the policy has been to foster favourable features of family
life as much as they can be reproduced. Before the hostel opened
for admission of residents in November 1963, the administering
authority (the Essex County Council) engaged a married couple
with a young child, the Warden being a trained mental nurse and
his wife (an Assistant Warden) being a qualified teacher of maladjusted
children. During the year there were no major staffing problems
at the hostel.
The allocation of places in the hostel was determined by the
Ministry of Health and as in the case of Collier Lodge Hostel, half
of the places were allocated to the Essex County Council Health
Department, the remaining 15 to be shared "on the basis of need
and urgency " by the London Boroughs of Barking, Havering, Redbridge
and Waltham Forest. The administrative responsibility for
Westmarsh Lodge was transferred on 1st April, 1965, to the London
Borough of Havering.
Admissions and Discharges
During the year 16 admissions and 8 discharges were effected
and at the 31st December, 1965, the hostel was fully occupied. The
waiting list included 3 from Barking. 2 from Havering, 1 from
Essex County Council and 1 from Waltham Forest.
Whenever a vacancy occurred, the Warden with the Senior
Psychiatric Social Worker or Senior Mental Welfare Officer interviewed
the applicant and the urgency and need was carefully
assessed. The Hostel has been fully occupied since September, 1965
(21 months after opening). New referrals are expected regularly in
July of each year from special residential schools, and at unexpected
intervals when the subnormal or severely subnormal person
loses his parent(s), or when the parent needs to undergo hospital
treatment. Good liaison between the voluntary organisations and
the hostel has been maintained. The South Essex Society for Mentally
Handicapped Children continued to offer rent-free holidays
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