London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hillingdon 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
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56 Community Care
The vacancy caused by the resignation has been filled, but the temporary position caused by the
secondment remained unfilled.
The volume of cases referred shows little change from that of 1967 and consequently the case
load of officers remains at too high a level. Any lengthy absence through illness of a member of the
field staff would have a detrimental effect on the standard of support given to patients and their
families.
One happy sign this year has been the improvement in liaison between the field staff and the
doctors and social workers at St. Bernard's Hospital. Weekly meetings are now held at the Hospital
to discuss specific cases. During the year 92 cases of mental illness were assisted at London Airport.
The following table indicates the number of cases referred to:—
| Referred by | Under Age 16 | Aged 16 and over | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | M | F | ||
| General Practitioners | 2 | 1 | 121 | 167 | 291 |
| Hospitals, or discharged from In-Patient treatment | — | — | 28 | 95 | 123 |
| Hospitals, after or during Out-Patient or day treatment | — | — | 23 | 40 | 63 |
| Local Education Authorities | 1 | — | — | — | 1 |
| Police Courts | 1 | — | 27 | 12 | 40 |
| Other Sources | — | 1 | 132 | 98 | 231 |
| Total | 4 | 2 | 331 | 412 | 749 |
The work of Mental Welfare Officers is shown below:—
(a) Mental Illness
Visits made by Mental Welfare Officers 2,531
Compulsory Admissions to Psychiatric Hospitals 188
Informal Admissions to Psychiatric Hospitals 102
Office Interviews 104
(b) Mental Subnormality
Visits to those under Borough Community Care 724
Office Interviews 26
The subnormal cases visited by Mental Welfare Officers are over 16 years of age. The Health
Visitors visit those under 16 years, and at the end of the year there were 140 cases who had received
206 visits. The Health Visitor visits are not included in the total of visits made by Mental Welfare
Officers.