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co-ordinated by regular meetings and case conferences to be
held at the Health and Welfare Clinics so that each clinic would
become a liaison centre for a team of Medical, Social and Educational
Workers operating in the surrounding area.
The team would be jointly responsible for providing services
and making recommendations about handicapped persons but one
member of the team would maintain regular contact with the
handicapped person or family and be available to them whenever
assistance was required.
Early diagnosis and assessment of handicap would be
encouraged by increased liaison with family doctors and hospital
staff and by giving publicity to the range of services available.
A co-ordinated plan for assessment of handicaps and attainments
in young children at Day Nurseries and Nursery Classes by
Doctors, Educationalists, Psychiatrists, Health Visitors and
Social Workers is being established.
By the end of the year the recommendations of this wide
ranging report were ready for implementation.
A steady reduction in the incidence of congenital and
acquired handicap can be expected as a result of immunisation
against infectious disease, progressively higher standards of
ante-natal and obstetric care, expansion of health education
programmes and increased knowledge resulting from research. The
number of cases of handicap resulting from accidents is increasing
however, and the life expectation of handicapped persons
is higher than ever before, due to the greater potential of medical
services. For these reasons it is unlikely that there will be any
reduction in the number of handicapped" persons in the near
future.
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