[Report 1965] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich County Borough.

  • West Bromwich (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1965] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    56/160 (page 50)
    MENTAL HEALTH The functions of the Local Health Authority in this field consist of establishing a service to provide social assistance to all types of mentally disordered patients not requiring hospital treatment, and to patients after discharge from hospital. This includes such matters as provision of training centres, residential accommodation, social clubs, and help given by social workers with the varied problems of the mentally disordered and their families. The Mental Welfare Officer in particular, who has responsibilities concerning the admission of patients to hospital, works closely with both hospital,/and general practitioner in the interests of his patients. General Arrangements The Health Committee was responsible to the Council for the Mental Health Service. The Medical Officer of Health and his staff were the responsible officers. In 1965 there were two mental welfare officers, one trained social worker, and a mental health officer working with the mentally subnormal. In order to provide for the availability of a mental welfare officer at all hours, West Bromwich and Smethwick jointly operated a duty rota on a weekly basis Mental Illness The Borough of West Bromwich sent most of its mentally ill patients to All Saints Hospital, Winson Green, Birmingham 18, and consequently has its closest liaison with that hospital. Out¬ patient facilities for the treatment of mental illness are also available at the HalSam Hospital, West Bromwich. Patients suffering from mental disorder can be admitted to hospital informally or an authority for detention which allows the hospital to detain them for stated periods of time. Compulsory powers are only used as a last resort and of course, the law provides for appeal against detention. The following table shows the number of patients resident in the Borough who were admitted informally or under compulsory powers over the past 10 years