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33
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
The year was one of steady progress in the field of community mental
health and was marked by the transfer in May of the Shoreditch Day Centre to
adapted premises in Thurtle Road, Shoreditch, previously used as a junior
training centre, and the opening of a special care unit for 12 children under
the age of 5 years in the Hackney Junior Training Centre in June.
Although the number of new cases varies only slightly from year to year
this number together with those remaining in community care from previous years
means that there is a natural increase in the case load. Thus there is an increasing
amount of visiting each year and last year this amounted to a 38%
increase.
With the Mental Health Act of 1959 now really effective, it is to be
expected that the demand for training centre, day centre and hostel accommodation
will increase, and the Department's plans for the next two to three years are
geared to provide for this.
Emergency Rota
The emergency call service for mental welfare officers after office hours
was maintained in conjunction with the London Borough of Islington. All the
Hackney officers now normally carry out this duty from their own homes.
Day Centres
The three day centres were busily occupied during the year, and the
success of these establishments is now well proved. During the year 52 new
patients were admitted to the centres, 31 of whom were admitted to Clifton
Lodge, which is a special rehabilitation centre, providing a short period of
sheltered work. The other two centres continued to accept patients with a
chronic condition. 28 patients were successful in obtaining and retaining
employment, and it was only necessary for eight of the patients to be re-admitted
to hospital because of further mental breakdown. The total number of patients
attending the day centres during the year was 134.
Social Clubs
These continued to be held at various locations on each week-night, and
the Department's officers were also concerned with social clubs for the mentally
handicapped organised by voluntary organisations.
Training Centres
The Borough has two purpose-built training centres. Hackney Training
Centre (100 places) for children 5 to 16 years, is able to cope at the
present time with new entrants. With the expected increase in the number
of school children, there will presumably be an increase in the number of
mentally handicapped children of school age, so that further accommodation
is likely to become necessary.
Homerton Training Centre (120 places) for seniors, which opened
in 1966, is now stretched to its limit, and is indicative of the urgent
problem of the increasing numbers of mentally handicapped adults who
survive much longer, due to improved public health facilities. Plans
to cope with this and other problems are given later in this
report.