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It is interesting to note that under the National Health Services
(Medical Auxiliaries) Regulations, 1962, registration under the Professions
Supplementary to Medicine Act became a qualification for
employment as a medical auxiliary in the National Health Service. One
would very much like to see State Registration being laid down as a
minimum qualification requirement before a licence is issued to practise
chiropody or physiotherapy in a private capacity.
At the beginning of the year 27 establishments were licensed and at
the end of the year the number licensed was 27, there being one deletion
and one addition to the list. The deletion was due to the relinquishing of
the practice. Two members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists
were in practice at the beginning and the end of the year.
(G) PROVISION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES OF PERSONS
The Deprived Child
The County Council as the local authority under the Children's Act
has a duty to take into care children under the age of seventeen who are
without parents or have been lost, or abandoned by, or are living away
from their parents or when their parents are unable to take care of them
and the intervention of the authority is necessary in the interests of the
welfare of the child. These children are either placed in residential homes
or boarded out with foster parents. In certain circumstances the authority
may assume parental rights of a child. It may also act as a fit person
under the Children and Young Persons Act, 1953, when the Court
commits a child to their care. It also has the responsibility for the supervision
of children who are maintained apart from their parents for reward.
The powers and duties of local authorities were further confirmed
and extended by the Children and Young Persons Act, 1963. The main
function is to promote action to prevent the necessity of receiving children
into care. In this area the work is carried out under the direction of the
Area Children's Officer, Miss Susan Boag, at Kynaston Court (Telephone
No. Grimsdyke 3131).
The Mentally III and the Mentally Subnormal
The Health Committee of the County Council is responsible for the
mental health functions of the authority. The duties of the authority
include responsibility for the initial care and admittance to hospital of
Patients who need to be dealt with under the Mental Health Act and for
the ascertainment and community care of the mentally subnormal.
Harrow is part of the central division of the County which is served
by Shenley Hospital. The Senior Mental Welfare Officer, Mr. D. L.
Richards, and other officers work at Balnacraig Avenue, Neasden,
N.W. 10., (Dollis Hill 7722). The services of a mental welfare officer out of