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This part of the work of the Mental Health Section has been
severely limited by the fact that at the relative time of student
placements there were two vacancies on the staff, and the training
programmes and supervision had to be undertaken entirely by the
Principal Mental Welfare Officer.
THE WORK OF THE MENTAL WELFARE OFFICERS
The work of the Mental Welfare Officers continued to extend and
increase and my comments in previous Reports regarding use of a
training policy for recruitment of Social Workers must be repeated.
The difficulties of recruiting qualified staff in the Mental Health field
are, perhaps, best illustrated by the fact that a post of Mental Welfare
Officer which became vacant in March this year was not filled by the
end of the year. In spite of a depleted staff, the requests for the services
of Mental Welfare Officers have increased and whilst in 1968 one Social
Worker had a liaison attachment with a group practice, now two
Mental Welfare Officers and one Social Worker have liaison attachments
with group practices. Further, the reorganisation of the services
provided by the Regional Hospital Board has made it inevitable
that staff from the Mental Health Section should work in very close
liaison with the new Acute Unit which is now at Springfield Hospital
in association with St. George's Hospital, in addition to the liaison
which is maintained with other psychiatric hospitals.
Co-ordination of the Hospital Services
The reorganisation planned by the Regional Hospital Board,
mentioned above, has important implications for the Mental Health
staff of the London Borough of Merton. The concept of acute units
implies a greater degree of care in the community. This, coupled with
new methods of drug therapy, indicates that the pattern for the future
will tend to develop services for the treatment of mental illness in the
community, rather than in hospital. This means that the number of
people cared for by the community increases and the number of readmissions
to psychiatric hospitals also increases, although the actual
time spent in hospital, away from families and friends, may decrease.
It is difficult to reorganise services to meet these changes, bearing
in mind that care and after-care of the mentally disordered are the
concern of general practitioners, Regional Hospital Boards and Local
Health Authorities. In order to bring the services together, general
practitioners are notified, from time to time, about the Local Authority
Services available for their patients, and the hospital service also endeavours
to keep general practitioners informed of the services they
are providing.
Community Care of the Mentally Disordered
The number of cases referred to the Mental Health Section continues
to increase, although it is important to note that, for the first
time, there was a decrease, of 22, in the numbers of patients admitted
to psychiatric hospitals.
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