[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Dudley County Borough.
- Dudley (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1962
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Dudley County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![It will be seen 1‘roni the tore-^oin^' table, that the loeal pattern is very iniu*h the sanie as the national one. There has been a eon- siderable growth in the nnniber of disehar^es and in addition to this. ( onsnltant Psvehiatrists are inakiiii^ inneh more use of Mental Welfare Olheers to snp})ort })atients in the eoinninnity than was the ease before the new Aet. 'Fhe loeal Psyehiatrie Hospital rightly regards the Loeal Anthoritv's service as an extension of its own in an intei^rated Mental Health Service. Welfare Olheers attend ease (*onferenees every week at Barnsley Hall Hos})ital and there is a very ^ood relationship between ('onsnltant Psychiatrists. Oeneral Practi- tioners and Mental Welfare Olheers. 'riie total number of ])atients referred to the Loeal Health .Vnthority from Oeneral Practitioners. Hospitals. Loeal Kdneation .Vnthorities and other sources dnrini'’ the \'ear was as follows: Mentally ill Psycho- pathic Suh- nonual Severely suh normal Total 219 1 It 15 2t9 The total of 21-i) eom})ares with 1 in One ease was dealt with at Saltwells Remand Home under Section hO of the Mental Health Aet. Subnormality 51)9 routine visits to the homes of subnormal and sevnu'cly sub- normal persons were made during the year. 15(5 of these were \’isits bv the Superx'isor of the d'rainin^r ('eiitre. Xim- new eases were notitied as severely subnormal, seven of which wert' admitted to the Training’ ('entre althonoh other was not found a place, as a .Special ('are Lnit was not available. I n addition to t his. tw elve sub- normals were referred for care and j^nidanec' on leaving- the day special school for educationally subnormal pupils. Hospital admissions a'.f'ain caused no ^reat dilheidty. One ease was admitted nmh'r Section 2(5 of the Mental Hiadth Aet. two eases were admitted informally for permanent eare and four iid'ormally for temporary eare. Four eases were discharged from hospital to the eare of the eomniunitw Hostel Accommodation The only natiomd fionres a\ ailable suoi)(,‘st that the need for residential aeeommodation for the mentally subnormal works out at about ().().‘H places per thousand population. \\'hilst this ti»ure may not be entirely accurate for Dudley, where tlu' proportion ol' the scN'crely sul)normal is very mneh abo\'e a\’ei’a”e, I feel that no special hostel pro\ ision for tlie mentally subnormal is at present justified. A few places mij^ht be pro\'id('d in (‘o-o))eration with oth(‘r Loeal Authorities in this area.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29171271_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
