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Mental Health Service.
The mental health services are integrated with the other health
services established under the National Health Service Act. The duties
of the local health authority include responsibility for the initial care
and conveyance to hospital of patients who fall to be dealt with under the
Lunacy and Mental Treatments Acts, and for the ascertainment and
community care of mental defectives. The Health Committee of the
County Council is responsible for the mental health functions of the
Authority. The local authorised officers are Mr. W. J. Pedel, Mr. W.
Bullwinkle and Mr. E. M. Jayne, of 48, Station Road, Harrow (Tel. No.
Harrow 5600).
Persons in need of Care and Attention.
It is the responsibility of the Hospital Boards to provide residential
accommodation for those persons needing the special medical or nursing
care which can be provided only in hospitals or similar institutions.
On the other hand, the National Assistance Act makes it the duty of
the County Council to provide residential accommodation for persons
who by reason of age, infirmity or other circumstances are in need of care
and attention which is not otherwise available to them. For administrative
purposes, the County is divided into the same ten areas as for the
County Council functions under Part III of the National Health Service
Act. Acting under the supervision of the Chief Welfare Officer for the
County there is a Welfare Officer in each area ; the one for this district is
Mr. H. G. Plummer, 48, Station Road, Harrow (Tel. No. Harrow 1252).
To provide the necessary accommodation the County Council has taken
over a number of large houses such as Oxhey Grove in this district. In
addition, persons are accepted at such places as Redhill House. The
accommodation, however, falls very short of what is needed. The boundary
dividing the person falling into the one group from those in the other
is very indefinite, more particularly in the case of the aged and some
persons might well at one stage fall to be dealt with by the County Council
Service, temporarily to need the services provided by the Hospital Board
and then later again to need only the services of the Welfare Authority.
Neither Authority has anything like the accommodation necessary to
meet the demands, so that many persons are in their homes to their own
disadvantage and in many cases with real inconvenience and even
hardship to the relatives of those who need the services which can adequately
be provided for them only in an institution. A very real problem
faces the hospital administrator. The shortage of hospital beds is forcing
consideration to be given to the question of whether the best use is
being made of what beds are available. This can be determined only
when agreement has been reached on what are the main uses to which
these beds should be put. In the past, patients were freely admitted to
hospitals for investigation and for observation, and were retained there
without regard to the fact that, while admission to the hospital was
necessary to enable certain investigations to be carried out, many of the
tests and examinations could have been carried out on those attending
as out-patients. Convalescence after an operation was extended, the
patient remaining in hospital. To-day, arrangements exist by which