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This service has won high praise from the public, local doctors and
hospitals for the efficiency, courtesy and humanity with which our officers
conduct the various and difficult tasks which fall to their lot both with
mental sufferers and defectives.
The records kept in the department are invaluable in assessing
individual states; to the Court on occasion and to the Psychiatrist in
diagnosis and treatment.
Liaison with the Health Visitor service has widened further.
The effectiveness of the aid given to problem families and numbers of
old persons, especially those who suffer episodes of mental disorientation
due mostly to vascular disturbances of the brain and general senile decrepitude.
The Duly Authorised Officers also vouchsafe a helping hand to the staff
of the Mental Health Occupation Centre on outings, sale of work days, shows
and parties, and their presence on such occasions is a great encouragement to
the parents that the welfare and safety of their unfortunate children is
amply guarded.
Mention has already been made of the contribution to the Park View
Therapeutic Club generously afforded by the Duly Authorised Officers, and
their assistance in the supervision of a number of our defectives under
Order is most invaluable.
The Mental Health Service, although less spectacular in its workaday
habit, is yet, to my mind, one of the most beneficient of measures which
falls to the lot of the Health Committee to carry out under the requirements
of the National Health Service Act.
SECTION 29 - HOME HELP SERVICE
There has been little change in the work or administration of this
valuable ancillary service. The old people continue to attract the greatest
effort from our Home Helps, and all the indications point to a time not far
off when more organized effort on a broader base may be needed to cope
adequately with the increasing needs of our rapidly expanding group of aged
persons.