[Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Benfleet U.D.C., Canvey Island U.D.C., Rayleigh U.D.C., Rochford R.D.C. (South East Essex).

Benfleet (England). Urban District Council.

Date:: 1964

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Benfleet U.D.C., Canvey Island U.D.C., Rayleigh U.D.C., Rochford R.D.C. (South East Essex). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Child (iiiiddiicc Clinic I am indebted to Dr. J. Runes for the following report: “ During the year 1964 the staff situation improved considerably. I'or the second part of the year we had both appointments for Educa- tional Psychologists tilled and our Social Worker managed to co])c with the most urgent demands. The two other \’acancies for Psychiatric Social Workers could not be filled for lack of ]n-oper applicants. The increasing load of work required some additional jxsychiatric sessions and Dr. Crocket was appointed as a locum consultant for two sessions; but even with her considerable help we could not effect a substantial reduction in the waiting list. It has to be kept in mind that there is a continuous increase of population in our entire area. We moved into our new- premises at the end of March; this move was bound to cause a temporary dislocation in the service provided by us, but I am pleased to say that very soon after settling in, we managed to keep up our full schedule of work. The new premises may prove in- sufficient in the foreseeable future, viz. when all vacant appointments are filled. Our old premises w'ere handed over to the tutorial teaching department. This department is a great help to us in dealing with many of the children who would otherwise require placement at schools for maladjusted children. We have continued our regular sessions at Rayleigh Health Services Clinic, and the tutorial teaching department has resumed the sessions w'hich were interrupted for a time owing to shortage of staff. We are looking forward to the opening of a temporary clinic in Hadleigh, wdiich should eventually be supplanted by a permanent establishment. We have had several visits from groups of students from the Thurrock Technical College and also from student nurses from Runwell Hospital. There have been group discussions with the house mothers in charge of various L.C.C. Homes in Basildon and the L.C.C. Children’s Department referred some of their children, who reside in our area, to this clinic. During the year we had again the isolated, intractable case of persistent school refusal in our older group, and hospital placement had to be sought outside the region, as we are still not in a position to refer cases to an Adolescent Ward in our region. The problem of younger children is not so acute in view of the help offered by Whippis Cross Hospital as well as the children’s w^ard at St. Andrews’s and Southend Hospitals. We continued our contacts with Probation Officers, Health Visitors, Child Care Officers and Speech Therapists, usually in connection with cases referred by them. The proposed pilot scheme for training School Medical Officers and Health Visitors appears to have been abandoned. We nevertheless have initiated a meeting with the School Medical Officers of this area and we hope that this will develop into a regular routine to the benefit of both sides.”$