News and Notes
Mental Health Conference, 1949 The Duchess of Kent as Patron, honoured the National Association for Mental Health with her presence at the Annual Conference held at Seymour Hall, W.l, on March 17th and 18th, 1949. Her Royal Highness formally opened the Conference on March 17th and addressed the large audience which had assembled for the inaugural session, at which first experiences of recent social legislation and implications for mental health were discussed. Addresses of welcome to Her Royal Highness were given by Mr. R. A. Butler (President) and Lord Feversham, Chairman of Council.
An introductory address was given by Sir Wilson Jameson, G.B.E., K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P., Chief Medical Officer of the Ministries of Health and Education, who, in the course of his remarks, expressed the hope that the Association would be able to continue and extend its pioneer work, since at no time in our history had it been more important to have active voluntary organizations able and willing to experiment and to indicate ways in which the more official services could profitably develop. On the first day, Professor A. N. Shimmin, M.A. (Professor of Social Science, University of Leeds) presided throughout, and Dr G. B. Jeffery (Director of the University of London, Institute of Education) took the Chair at the second day’s sessions, when the subject of the need for understanding the individual as part of the training and function of doctors, nurses, teachers, and social workers, was discussed. The experiment of devoting one whole day to each subject, thus allowing a longer period for discussion, appeared to be generally welcomed as was evidenced by the large number of delegates and others present who took part.
Approximately 1,100 persons attended the Conference, of whom over 600 were representatives of local authorities and voluntary organizations, and many students in training were also present. A printed Report on the proceedings is now available, and copies (5s. 3d. each, post free) may be obtained from the Association.
” Friendship Groups of the Mentally Deficient” Under this title, the March News Letter of the American Association on Mental Deficiency has an interesting article by Dr Edward J. Humphreys drawing attention to the two types of groups now concerned with members of the community whose intelligence is below the average, viz., the professional organization with interests centering on the subject in its administrative, psychological, social and educational aspects, and the less familiar and much newer type of group?units of which are now beginning to emerge?whose members consist of parents, relatives and personal friends of the defectives themselves. Of this new development, Dr Humphreys writes:
” It is now obvious that each of these major groups vitally concerned with the mentally deficient, is facing new opportunities for growth and development. It is also clear that the professional group is desperately in need of the assistance of the group becoming known as the parents and friends group. Likewise the parents and friends group needs the assistance such as can be rendered by the professional organization. No other field is focusing upon this relationship more clearl> or with greater emphasis than is the field of mental deficiency. It is time for the scientific or the professional group to recognize that it now has a friend itself with unlimited potentialities than can be mobilized in helping the professional group to achieve its goals in the care, training, treatment and study of the mentally deficient.”
This question was among those discussed at the recent Pan-American Congress on Mental Deficiency held at New Orleans, and we shall await further developments with interest.
In this country, so far as we are aware, there has been until recently, only one ” Friendship Group ” coming within Dr Humphrey’s second category ?” The Association of Parents of Backward Children ” founded by Mrs. Fryd (8 Westfield Avenue, Harpenden, Herts.)?and we are glad to be able to draw attention to the inauguration of a second group of the kind, just formed. This consists of parents and friends of mentally defective children in the Fountain Hospital, London. Its objects are:
(1) To promote the material, mental and spiritual welfare of the patients of the Fountain Hospital. (2) To foster mutual help and support among the parents, relatives and friends of patients. (3) To promote closer co-operation and understanding between the parents, relatives and friends of patients and the staff of the hospital. Already members of the Group have raised the sum of ?100 to be spent for the benefit of the children; they have started a Ladies’ Mending Party, and are in process of forming a Men’s Toy Repairing and Odd Jobs Team. Other projects include the organization of outings for the children, and the provision of play material and of flowers for the wards, and particularly the Group seeks to provide opportunities for its members to meet together in order that the sense of isolation which so many of them feel may be dispelled.
The Chairman of the Group is Mr. J. C. Davies, 9 Wilton Crescent, Wimbledon, S.W.I9. Any reader who is interested in this work, and might be able to emulate the Group’s example in another area, is invited to apply to him for further particulars. A new professional group has also been formed recently?viz., a Mental Deficiency Society for Medical Officers, Psychologists and Social Workers in the North-West Metropolitan Region who are engaged in work for defectives. The Hon. Secretary is Dr B. W. Richards, Middlesex Colony, Shenley, St. Albans, Herts, and Professor L. Penrose is President. Monthly meetings are planned for discussions and ^the reading of papers, and every three months it is proposed that a review of recent literature bearing on mental defect shall be given.
We welcome both these new ventures and hope that they will be the forerunner of many others on similar lines.
N.A.M.H. Homes and Hostels The National Association for Mental Health will open its twelfth Agricultural Hostel at Goole, Yorkshire, this summer for 22 men, to be increased to 38 later by the building of an additional wing. Men will be employed by the West Riding Agricultural Committee at whose request the Association is administering the hostel.
Negotiations are in progress for the leasing by the Association of a house at Walmer, near Deal, Kent, to serve as a holiday home in the summer months, and for the rest of the year as a short-term home for defectives needing convalescence, or whose mothers need a short rest. The Association has frequently been asked to provide such a home for emergencies, and it is felt that the house will meet a real need. Fees for holiday patients will be ?2 12s. 6d. per week; for convalescents and short term patients who may need nursing, ?4 4s. per week.
As from April 1st, 1949, Sherborne House, Basingstoke (for low-grade defective children), came under the management of the Botleys Park Group of Hospitals Management Committee. We understand that the children are to be moved and that the house is to be transformed into a hostel for older girls.
Care of Former Delinquents
The Home Secretary has approved under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act, 1949, the establishment of a Central After-Care Association for England and Wales which will be responsible for the supervision of persons released from Borstal training, corrective training, and preventive detention, and young prisoners released on licence. It will also undertake the after-care of certain other classes of prisoner for whom central rather than local after-care arrangements are indicated. The Borstal Association, the Aylesbury AfterCare Association and the Central Association for the Aid of Discharged Convicts are to be merged in this new Association, the governing body of which will consist of about 20 members representative of these merged organizations, and also of the National Association of Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Societies, the Prison Commissioners, and of various Government departments and unofficial bodies and persons serving in an individual capacity. The first chairman of the Council is Mr. L. W. Fox, chairman of the Prison Commission.
World Federation for Mental Health The second Mental Health Assembly of the World Federation will be held at Geneva, August 22nd-27th, 1949, and will be preceded by a meeting of the Executive Board, 18th-20th.
The convening organization in each country has been asked to arrange for the appointment of a national delegation. The convening body in this country is the National Association for Mental Health, and a British Standing Committee, under the chairmanship of Dr Doris Odium, has been formed by the member organizations and is assembling a delegation. Organizations in this country so far admitted to membership of the World Federation are: The Scottish Association for Mental Hygiene, Royal Medico-Psychological Association, British Psychological Society, and the Northern Regional Hospital Board (Scotland). The duties of the British Standing Committee will include: {a) acting as a link between the World Federation and interested organizations in this country; (b) nominating member bodies of the national organization; (c) approving applications for observers to the Assembly; (d) collecting suggestions for the Assembly, covering both the agenda and resolutions; (e) co-ordinating and furthering research in the mental health field. The Committee also hopes to maintain contact and to assist the various Preparatory Commissions set up in this country in connection with the 1948 International Congress.
In order that the interests of mental health throughout the world shall be served to the fullest extent by the Assembly, member organizations and others interested have been asked to send in suggestions on topics for discussion, proposals for activities and draft resolutions.
In addition to official delegates, others interested may apply to attend as observers. Applications should be sent to the Medical Director, National Association for Mental Health, 39 Queen Anne Street, W.l, as soon as possible, but not later than June 30th.
Members of the National Association for Mental Health may like to be reminded that they have automatically become members of the World Federation, because the Association is one of the Founder National Affiliated Bodies, and, therefore, pays an overall subscription.
Bulletin
The World Federation now issues a bi-monthly Bulletin which is the successor to the series of 12 Bulletins distributed by the International Congress on Mental Health held in London in August, 1948. It is intended to serve as a link between the Federation and member organizations throughout the world, and also to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information covering mental health subjects generally. It is proposed to publish at least one original article in each issue on some topic relevant to the work of the Federation. The first issue?an easily read and attractively prepared document of 28 pages?contains editorial comment on the hopes and aspirations of the World Federation, news of activities of member organizations in various countries, and also information about the membership and constitution of the Federation.
Suggestions are invited for a name for the Bulletin which, it is felt, should, if possible, bear relation to its international scope and character. Orders for the Bulletin (5s. per annum) should be sent to the Editor, World Federation for Mental Health, 19 Manchester Street, London, W.l.
Psychiatric Advisory Bureaux
In co-operation with the South-West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, Hampshire County Council has set up advisory bureaux at a number of centres in the country at which a social worker, with experience of mental health, will be in attendance on certain days of the week. It is hoped that this scheme will in some measure reduce the incidence of mental illness by preventing the development into serious mental illness of minor emotional and psychological difficulties, whether these affect mainly home life or mainly employment. People can attend the centre without appointment or introduction, but it is hoped that the Ministry of Labour employment offices, factory and other welfare officers, managers and shop stewards, health visitors, teachers, probation officers, almoners, and also voluntary organizations will assist in making the bureaux known to persons with whom they come into contact and who may stand in need of their services.
The social worker will be required to help with advice and, where this is indicated, to assist in effecting adjustments in the home life or employment of the person concerned. Should specialist advice be necessary, the social worker will suggest that the person visits one of the psychiatric outpatient clinics in the area and, if required, will effect the introduction. In certain circumstances, if a person is unable to attend an advisory bureau, the social worker may visit him or her at home. The high proportion of industrial workers who, as surveys have indicated, are found to suffer from minor mental disability sufficient to impair their occupational efficiency, has abundantly made clear the need for facilities of this kind. The County Medical Officer of Health states that several years of experience of the pioneer scheme on similar lines operated by the National Association for Mental Health (and to which reference is made elsewhere in this issue), has proved that many successful adjustments have been made by, and with the help of trained social workers, with great improvement in the comfort and efficiency of the persons concerned.
This experiment will be followed with interest, but its success is naturally dependent upon the staffing of the bureaux by trained and experienced mental health workers, of whom, unfortunately at the present time, there is an acute shortage. National Association for the Paralysed This is a new department of the British Council for Rehabilitation set up to deal with the care, treatment and rehabilitation of the paralysed. The first project of the Association is to compile a register of paralysed persons, and anyone knowing such a person is asked to urge him (or her) to send his name and address, with a note stating the type of paralysis from which he suffers, to the Registrar. The Chairman of the Association is the Hon. J. Holland-Hibbert, and the Standing Sub-Committee, to whom powers have been delegated by the parent body, consists of the following members: Miss E. L. Beckett (Occupational Therapist, St. George’s Hospital), Miss I. H. Charley (Nursing Consultant, Crusader Insurance Co. Ltd.), Dr Colin Edwards (West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases), Miss E. W. N. Johnston (Committee on Welfare of Disabled, Scottish Council of Social Service), Mr. F. Morena (Infantile Paralysis Fellowship), Miss C. Morris (Almoner, National Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System), Miss H. Squire ‘(Almoner, Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases) and Mr. Henry P. Weston (British Council for Welfare of Spastics).
Further information may be obtained from the British Council for Rehabilitation, 32 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.l.
Handicapped Person’s Welfare
Under the chairmanship of Mr. Edward Evans, M.P., an Advisory Council on the Welfare of Handicapped Persons has recently been appointed by the Minister of Health under the National Assistance Act to advise the Minister on the development of welfare services for the blind, the deaf and dumb, and cripples. The members of the Committee include representatives of the National Institute for the Blind, the National Institute for the Deaf, Central Council for the Care of Cripples, British Deaf and Dumb Association, British Association of the Hard of Hearing and also a number of persons serving on local authority committees. It is noteworthy, however, that the mental health aspect of this important subject is unrepresented.
Education in Mental Hospitals
Recent amending legislation to the Education Act, 1944, empowers hospital management committees of mental hospitals to arrange educational classes for voluntary patients, and in this connection to seek the assistance of the Director of Education of the area. Classes would normally be held at the hospital, but if it is felt that it might be of therapeutic value, patients would be allowed to attend classes in local schools or other outside centres.
Library of Child Psychiatry
Professor Georges Heuyer, le Avenue EmileDeschanel, Paris Vile, who is Professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of Paris and a very old friend of many in this country, has written to Dr J. R. Rees that he is trying to get together an adequate library of Child Psychiatry in his hospital department. He would be most grateful for any copies of suitable books which readers might feel inclined to present to him.
Wage-Earning Patients in M.D. Institutions Some difficulty has been experienced, since the coming into operation of the National Health Service Act, in connection with patients in Mental Deficiency Institutions allowed out on daily licence for the purpose of paid employment. As under Section 1 of the Act all treatment in hospitals (including treatment for mental defect) must be free, it has not been possible for any part of the wages earned by such defectives to be deducted for maintenance as in the past.
This anomaly has now been adjusted by Clause 19 of the National Health Service (Amendment Bill) which makes it lawful to require that any person for whom hospital and specialist services are being provided, but who is absent during the day for the purpose of engaging in employment, shall pay part of the cost of his maintenance.
Broadmoor Institution
Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, which was first opened in 1863, will in future be known as Broadmoor Institution, Crowthorne, Berks. In April, 1949, the Institution was transferred from the Home Secretary to the Minister of Health and is now managed by the Board of Control, although decisions relating to the admission and discharge of patients will continue to rest with the Home Secretary. The Institution will become part of the mental health services incorporated in the National Health Service.
Progress Book for Occupation Centres
Attention is drawn to the recent issue of a revised ” Progress Book ” for the use of Occupation Centres and School Departments of Mental Deficiency Institutions, published by the National Association for Mental Health.
The book provides for a Summarized Record on the admission of the child, an Admission Report, a Supervisor’s First Report, and for twelve subsequent Periodical Reports, and the questions are designed to ensure the keeping of full and adequate records.
A specimen copy of the book may be obtained from the Publications Department, N.A.M.H., 39 Queen Anne Street, W.l, price 9d.
The Nurses Bill
The Nurses Bill, the text of which was recently published, seeks to promote improvement in the training of nurses, and the proposed reconstitution of the General Nursing Council provides for a stronger educational element and also representation of nurses throughout the country. The Bill is the outcome of recommendations on training made by a working party which issued a report in 1947. The Bill provides also for the establishment of a standing mental nurses committee consisting of 12 persons, of whom six shall be members of the Council, 2 registered mental nurses, and 4 appointed by the Minister of Health, these to include a matron of a mental hospital, a registered mental nurse engaged in the teaching of the nursing and care of persons suffering from mental disease, a registered medical practitioner engaged in the teaching of psychiatry, and a chief male nurse. It is proposed that regional nurse-training committees for regional hospital areas shall be set up, with a view to promoting improvements in training, and of advising and assisting the training institutions and the General Nursing Council in all matters relating to the training of nurses.
The British Hospitals Association
By Resolution, passed by its members in Extraordinary General Meeting, the British Hospitals Association, which includes the Central Bureau of Hospital Information, was voluntarily wound up as from April 1st, 1949. No further editions of the Association’s Hospitals Year Book will be published, but a certain number of copies of the current (1948) edition are still obtainable (price 22s., including postage) from the Liquidator, Mr. E. F. G. Whinney, of Messrs. Whinney, Smith and Whinney, 4b, Frederick’s Place, Old Jewry, London, E.C.2.
Hospitals disclaimed from, or not transferable to, the National Health Service have now formed their own Association of Independent Hospitals and Kindred Organizations, the Hon. Secretary of which is Mr. A. J. Wood, National Sanatorium, Benenden, Cranbrook, Kent, to whom all communications should be addressed.
Leeds Regional Psychiatric Association A Regional Psychiatric Association has recently been set up in Leeds with Professor D. R. MacCalman as its first Chairman. The objects of the Association are the promotion and improvement of the mental health of the individual and of the community through the study of clinical, social, educational and administrative problems of psychiatric practice, and the presentation of the views of the Association to the appropriate authorities, to the medical and other professions, and to the general public.
Ordinary membership is open to all psychiatrists in the Leeds region and bona fide trainees whose applications are approved by the Executive Committee. There is also an associate membership which, at present, is restricted to psychologists, psychiatric social workers and lay therapists engaged in actual psychiatric practice. Regular clinical meetings will be a feature of the Association’s activities, and distinguished visitors will be invited from time to time. Propaganda will also form part of the Association’s work. Sub-Committees dealing with clinical matters and research, education and public relations, and organization and planning have been set up. Further particulars of the Association may be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, Dr J. W. Affleck, City of Leeds Mental Health Services, 25 Blenheim Terrace, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds 2.
Film Discussion Meeting
An interesting experiment was initiated recently by the Bournemouth Association for Mental Health and the Bournemouth Film Society at a joint meeting held at the Municipal College, at which there were some three hundred persons present.
The meeting started with a presentation of the film, Blind Alley, which deals with an episode in the life of a gangster whose emotional conflicts, dating from his childhood, had led to his adopting a life of crime. While escaping from the police, he spends the night in the house of a Professor of Psychiatry with whom he discusses his problem.
After the film, the audience took an active part in the ensuing discussion, and asked many questions which were dealt with by four psychiatrists who were present. This pioneer venture proved to be highly successful, and it is hoped to arrange further meetings of the kind in the future.
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