[Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health, Dundee City.

  • Dundee (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health, Dundee City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/248 (page 18)
    Mental Health Service Staff. In January, Miss E. L. Tait, Superintendent of Care and After Care, retired. The supervision of the mentally disordered had been part of her duties, but the increasing work indicated a full-time appointment in this sphere. Accordingly, Miss M. P. Carrie, a Health Visitor with a particular interest in the mentally disordered, was appointed as Specialist Health Visitor. In August, the newly created post of Senior Assistant Medical Officer of Health was filled, the officer concerned being given, among other duties, the administration of the Mental Health Section, under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health. In October, our first Mental Welfare Officer, Mr T. Whitton, took up his appointment. He had previously had considerable experience in general and mental nursing. As a considerable amount of work of our Mental Health Service is carried out by the district Health Visitors, it was felt that they should have extra training to help them with this task. Accordingly, they have been attending, in groups, a course of 30 lectures at Dundee Royal Mental Hospital. This scheme started towards the end of 1960 and has been greatly appreciated by the Health Visitors. We are very grateful to the staff of Dundee Royal Mental Hospital for arranging these courses and particularly to Dr J. Scott, Senior Registrar, who has been responsible for most of the instruction. Services for Mental Defectives At the end of the year, 584 cases were known to the De- partment. Of these, 59 new names had been added to the Register during 1961. During the year, 32 names were removed from the Register either by death or removal from the city. In the latter cases, the Medical Officers of Health of the area to which they had gone, were notified and asked to provide supervision in their new environment. In May, several sections of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act, 1960 came into force and included Part II of the Act which concerns the functions of Local Authorities. To meet the demands of the Act, it was decided to create a Mental' Health Section in the Department, which would be responsible for all the Health and Welfare functions concerning the men- tally disordered.