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be admitted to this unit without a domiciliary visit and a social
worker's report except in cases of special urgency. The overall emphasis
must be on the care of the aged in community for clinical, social
and humanitarian reasons. It is essential that local resources should
be used to evaluate the quality of care given against our local need,
and this leads me to my final topic.
Psychiatric Case Registers
'Counts of mentally disordered persons based solely on in-patient
statistics are no longer considered representative of psychiatry morbidity.
Estimates of numbers in contact with both hospital and community
services provide a more realistic figure. The needs of these
individuals, and those of their relatives, must be known before we
can say whether the services we provide meet their needs. How many
others, not in touch with our services, are there, and how can we
modify our existing services to cater for these additional persons?
Ultimately each area must set up such a case register if we are to be
able to assess the overall state of mental health, and to study trends
in families, neighbourhoods, and in old and new housing estates. I
hope that Merton can be one of the first boroughs to implement this
important health study.'
Staff
As at 31st December, 1970, the staff position was: —
1 Principal Mental Welfare Officer.
1 Deputy Principal Mental Welfare Officer.
7 Mental welfare officers.
1 Mental health social worker.
Mr. J. O'Neill resigned his post as mental welfare officer in
February, 1970, to take up a post in Scotland, and in April, Mr. D.
Dunne resigned his post to take up an appointment with the London
Borough of Wandsworth.
Mrs. J. Reed was appointed as a mental health social worker
in March, 1970, and three mental welfare officers were appointed
during the year— Mr. H. S. Hein in July, Mr. M. Cooke in August,
and Mr. E. Desai in September.
Training of Staff
The Mental Health Section did not receive any students from
Colleges during 1970, but there was an increase in the placements made
by St. George's Hospital and Springfield Hospital in connection with
the training of mental nursing staff in the community services. Also,
with the anticipated re-organisation of the local authority social services,
considerable emphasis was put on various aspects of In-Service
Training with a view to equipping social work staff with the information
and training necessary to assist them in the new setting.
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