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139
WELFARE SERVICES
(R. W. Hall, Chief Welfare Officer)
Social Work
Staffing
During 1969 there have been a number of changes in the Social Work
staff. In July 1969 our Principal Social Worker took up one of the appointments
of Director of Social Services in Scotland and was replaced by one
of the three Assistant Principal Social Workers in mid-August. However,
the vacancy thus created and was not filled until November. Two of our
social workers also left us in the summer and unavoidable delays in
replacing them by other officers of sufficient calibre, coupled with
similar delays in replacing the Assistant Principal, inevitably resulted
in a period when existing staff were working under even greater pressures
than usual.
Towards the end of the year, plans to increase the staffing establishment
of the Welfare Services by the introduction of three Welfare
Assistant posts - one for each of the three geographical teams —
became possible and it was anticipated that the vacancies would be
filied early in 1970.
It is significant that whilst there was only a limited response to our
advertisements for an Assistant Principal Social Worker and the Social
Welfare Officer vacancies, particularly from professionally qualified ancj/
or experienced people, our advertisement of the Welfare Assistant posts
produced almost a hundred enquiries and over thirty applications. It has
become apparent that among mature married women there are many who,
though they may lack high academic or professional qualifications,
nevertheless have the necessary qualities of personality and a desire to
give service to the community which renders them a rich potential source
of recruitment to the staff of Welfare Services at a Welfare Assistant
level.
Unfortunately, whilst plans to integrate the existing social work
departments of King George Hospital and Chadwell Heath Hospital into
the community based services were completea, it was not possible to
advertise a joint appointment until the end of 1969 and the response was
so limited that the post will be readvertised in the New Year. This setback,
which resulted from economic pressures both for the Hospital
Management Committee and the Local Authority, has been a disappointment
to us all.