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trist to the borough. One session has been devoted
either to a tutorial or to a case conference
for the mental health social workers, and the
second is an evening session for the residents at
Wood Lane Hostel.
A mental health social worker is attending the
hospital for case conferences one day each week
when patients, who are normally borough residents,
are discussed. On his return he informs his
colleagues of current events affecting their particular
patients, so enabling them to be conversant
with their progress. It is hoped that when the
establishment of social workers is full that
officers will be able to visit their own cases in
hospital.
As a direct result of these changes and of the
increased use of the domiciliary services, there has
been a greater reciprocal understanding of the
problems affecting both the hospital staff and the
mental health social worker.
It has not yet been possible to develop the same
degree of liaison with St Bernard's Hospital, but
as its catchment area relates only to a small part
of this borough, and owing to the shortage of
mental health social workers throughout the year
it has been considered advisable to concentrate
our efforts on the principal catchment hospital.
It is unfortunate that this Borough is not served
by one hospital for mentally ill patients.
A psychiatric clinic commenced at Hounslow
Hospital in October. This has proved of great
help and in the initial stages reduced the waiting
time for new appointments, but inevitably
demand outpaced supply to the extent that there
is now a three week's wait before a new patient
can be seen by a psychiatrist. Arrangements have
been made for a mental health social worker to
see beforehand all new patients, with the agreement
of the family doctor, to obtain a social
history for the psychiatrist, thereby saving his
time and enabling him to obtain a first hand
account of the home circumstances of the patient.
A mental health social worker is also in
attendance at the clinic to assist the psychiatrist
and to help with patients' social problems.
The hostel at 24 Wood Lane Isleworth, has
proved extremely valuable in the rehabilitation
programme of many types of psychiatric illness,
and though still in its experimental stage, it has
shown that there is a need for this type of
accommodation both for long term and for short
term patients. There is also a need for a degree of
flexibility to admit psychiatric patients who
require urgent accommodation for social reasons
and who would otherwise have no alternative but
to be admitted to hospital.
A report by the warden on the first year's
management of the hostel is included later in the
report.
The Industrial Therapy Organization (Thames)
Ltd, has again proved helpful and clearly shows a
need for services to be provided for rehabilitation,
and has helped considerably those patients who
for some reason or other need sheltered
conditions and help in acclimatizing to work
routines and normal social activities. It has also
demonstrated the need for a programme of long
term training to enable patients to obtain
industrial experience under more sheltered and
less demanding conditions than those offered by
the Ministry of Labour's industrial rehabilitation
units. The need is for a training programme
which would accommodate patients who can
work only for short, variable hours and which is
flexible enough to consider those who are under
sedation and find it difficult to get to work at an
early hour and to maintain a reasonable output.
This need will partly be met by the proposed
sheltered workshop.
The staff situation has been variable. One
mental health social worker left for promotion
to another London borough, and one is to take
up an appointment in his home country and there
has been considerable difficulty in finding
qualified or experienced replacements. Two senior
mental health social workers have been
seconded to full time Younghusband courses
so that for much of the year the service has
suffered from a shortage of staff and has delayed
the development of the social work that is
envisaged for the future.
In the London area the high cost tends to
prohibit the more junior staff purchasing their
own housing and the council has allocated four
housing units for mental health social workers as
it is clearly much more satisfactory for these
officers to live within or near to the area they
serve.
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