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At the end of the year, there were 6 defectives in the area awaiting institutional
accommodation. Four of these, adult males and former poor law patients, are in Forest Gate
Hospital not under Order and are on the waiting list for admission to South Ockendon
Institution.
Home Training. No special arrangements existed for the home training of defectives.
Occupation Centre. The number of children attending the Centre during the year
increased, and tribute must be paid to the Stirling work undertaken by Miss Forshaw, the
Supervisor, and her staff in training the children. A distinctive feature of the training
provided at the West Ham Centre has been the attention paid to the development of the natural
abilities of the individual child. This attention has not been limited to purely educational
attainment, but has also been extended to include the social and vocational needs of the child.
Mentally handicapped children do not exist in isolation, but are members of a family group and
the advisory services of the Supervisor and her staff and also of the Departments health
visitors have been available to assist in the solution of family problems. Such advice in
relation to the handling of the individual child's problems can be of considerable help in
lessening the strain which is placed on the child's parents and family. During the year
the Council continued its policy of helping Assistant Supervisors in obtaining the teaching
Diploma of the National Association for Mental Health.
WORK UNDERTAKEN BY THE PSYCHIATRIC SOCIAL WORKER
The work of the Psychiatric Social Worker has continued steadily throughout the year
and most of the cases were referred from the Health Department, or from Goodmayes Hospital.
Preventive mental health played a dominant role In the work of the social worker. The
continued referral of cases to the Psychiatric Social Worker at an early stage was particularly
encouraging as this enabled her to give supportive treatment at a time when it was particularly
valuable to the patient and the family.
The 1957 Annual Report gave examples illustrative of the case work undertaken by the
Psychiatric Social Worker and indicated the sources of referral.
A COMPREHENSIVE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE
During the year the Department's senior officers gave considerable thought to the
Report of the Royal Commission on the Law Relating to Mental Illness and Mental Deficiency
1954-1957, and considered the recommendations and implications of this progressive Report
as far as they related to West Ham. Schemes were being prepared for the consolidation and
strengthening of the local health authority's services, not only for the mentally sick and
defective, but also In relation to the prevention of mental disorder. The final shape of
these plans will, of course, be influenced by the pattern of new legislation which will be
needed to Implement the Royal Commission's recommendations.
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