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The hostel year has been an uneventful one as will be seen from Matron's (Mrs. L. Sutcliffe)
report below:
"It was a satisfactory year at the Hostel, our earlier difficulties having been overcome and a
settled routine established.
We began and ended the year with 23 permanent residents, although the roll had altered
slightly; by December some half a dozen newcomers having arrived and a similar number having left.
Throughout the year we had 17 short-term residents for various reasons—mainly holidays and
illnesses of their parents.
In 1970 we were able to plan ahead and organise a Spring and Autumn outing, in May to
Longleat and in October to Woburn. Both are Wild Life Preserves and had particular interest to
our residents.
This year the annual holiday camp in September for the first time was organised for both
sexes together and as a result all our residents participated with the exception of two working
boys who had previously taken holidays independently. At Christmas our residents party entertained
over 100 guests, the highspot was the showing of more than a 100 colour slides depicting activities
of residents and some guests at the September camp holiday.
In 1970 we were able to keep staff up to establishment with less difficulty than in previous
years, but since the Hostel has passed the 20 resident mark it becomes more difficult to provide
the supervision and domestic duties which the number of residents requires. As a result the resident
members of the staff are on call for long periods with only one full day off duty each week; even
this is not possible for a number of weeks each year at holiday times".
INFORMAL FOSTER CARE AND GUARDIANSHIP
There are no cases under guardianship. There are 16 cases placed in Informal Foster Care
and accommodation in private households, homes or hostels. See table below:

LIAISON WITH HOSPITAL SERVICES
The liaison with Paediatricians and specialists of local hospitals is good, and with two-way
traffic of information on cases duplication of work is minimised. The year produced even more
stringent criteria for admissions to the local catchment hospital for subnormals and in one or two
instances where admission has not been granted considerable strain on the community service
has resulted. This problem is not an easy one to solve, and it must be expected that demand for
long term placement other than in hospital will increase with consequent greater demands on
community facilities. Discussions were held concerning the creation of a special clinic at the local
general hospital with a Consultant Psychiatrist from the local Subnormality Hospital in attendance.
The Consultant Psychiatrist will not only be available to see parents, but also the hospital Paediatrician
and Borough medical staff involved. This way will facilitate the solving of such problems
as long term residential placement. During the year 10 cases were admitted to hospital on a
permanent basis. There are 21 cases on the waiting list for admission to hospital on a permanent
basis of which 4 are deemed to be urgent.
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