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mental health social worker. Two other social workers
include subnormal patients in their case load, but
they are principally concerned with the mentally ill.
This arrangement has its merits and disadvantages.
Now that a wider concept of welfare has developed,
there is considerable overlapping of agency functions.
In having a section specialising in mental subnormality,
a common denominator is established for
liaison when people in other branches of social work
encounter problems with the mentally handicapped.
It is usually envisaged that the mental health social
worker should be involved with every form of mental
disorder, but experience in Middlesex and other parts
of the country has shown that where the mentally ill
and subnormal caseloads have been mixed, the former
group has always received priority attention at the
expense of the latter. This is inevitable because of the
urgency of the problems of the mentally ill and the
limited number of staff to deal with them.
If community care is to be a better alternative to
institutional care for the majority of subnormal cases,
it will depend on there being adequate provision in
the neighbourhood and also suitable short-term care
facilities being available to give families occasional
relief from the often considerable strain of caring for
the handicapped. The temporary care requirements in
the borough are provided by Leavesden Hospital but
unfortunately these are not being entirely met, particularly
this year during the summer period, due to an
acute bed shortage. Consequently, families who would
otherwise manage reasonably well are needing
increased social work support in order to cope.
At present there are 16 children in the community
under the department's supervision who are on the
waiting list for permanent care, including eight who
are in urgent need of admission, but because of the
long hospital waiting list have little hope of being
offered a bed in the near future. The physician superintendent
of Leavesden Hospital recently stated that
there were 70 patients on his waiting list, 61 of whom
are children. Six Hounslow patients have been
admitted to the hospital since April 1965, although all
these have been the result of serious crises in the
family or extreme pressure by this authority on the
hospital whose staff have at all such times been very
helpful.
Late last year two medical officers from Leavesden
Hospital came to a meeting in the Department of
Health when the problem of institutional care was
naturally one of the main topics for discussion.
Although the hospital doctors did not paint a very
bright picture of the permanent care situation we
were, nevertheless, able to familiarise them with the
most urgent cases on our waiting list. The possibility
of these same doctors having community clinics in
the borough was also debated, and the conclusion
reached was that this might be a feasible proposition
in the not too distant future. It is envisaged that these
clinics will provide the borough with additional
counselling facilities.
A closer relationship has been established with the
two local parents' associations in the form of a mental
health social worker being co-opted on to their
committees. One of the societies is particularly active
in the sphere of community work. It has built a new
social centre which, at the moment, is the venue for
two social clubs a week and a play group for the
under fours.
Three clinic sessions are held each month by
Dr P A Bennett the principal medical officer, for the
examination of sub-normal cases and for the counselling
of parents. Two of these sessions are held at
the Brentford Health Centre and one at Feltham
Clinic, and these serve either end of the borough. The
mental health division at Lampton Road is centrally
placed and cases are also seen here from time to time
as occasion arises, and home visits are also made to
some patients, particularly in new cases.
The part-time services of a specialist educational
psychologist. Dr M Tyson, are being made available
to the mental health division and it is anticipated that
her advice on teaching and training techniques will be
invaluable to the junior schools and adult training
centres. There is also the great advantage of having
her expert psychological assessment of individual
cases.
Junior Training Schools and Special Care Units
The borough possesses two junior training schools
both of which have 24 place special care units
attached.
Isleworth Junior Training School Bridge Road
Isleworth
This is a purpose-built school which was opened in
February 1960, and has a total of 104 places, 24 of
which are in the special care unit.
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