Britain: An official handbook > 1977

BRITAIN 1977: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
merits, infectious disease units, psychiatric and geriatric facilities, rehabilitation
facilities, convalescent homes and all forms of specialised treatment. A number
of specialist hospitals for mentally ill and mentally handicapped people are
also provided. In the long term the Government plans to replace the majority of
mental illness hospitals by facilities based on psychiatric units in district general
hospitals. Mentally handicapped people are cared for in hospital and in the
community; it is long-term government policy to shift the emphasis from
hospital to community care but, where hospital treatment is required, it will be
provided in small units near to the patient’s own home.
A large proportion of the hospitals in the National Health Service were built in
the nineteenth century; some trace their origins to much earlier charitable
foundations, such as the famous St. Thomas’ and St. Bartholomew’s hospitals
in London. Much has been done to improve and extend existing hospitals,
some of which are housed in inconvenient buildings, and a number of new
hospitals have been built.
There are nearly 2,770 NHS hospitals in Britain; they have some 498,000
beds and a nursing and midwifery staff of 258,000 full-time and about 170,000
part-time. There are 36,770 medical staff including over 13,600 consultants.
Rehabilitation Rehabilitation is an important aspect of medical care and today treatment is not
limited to the relief of pain or cure of pathological conditions but aims at helping
people to resume normal living as soon as possible. Rehabilitation has been
applied with advantage in the care of many patients, including the younger
disabled, the mentally ill and the aged and has enabled many patients to
become self-sufficient and to resume an independent life in their own homes.
Rehabilitation facilities are provided in the majority of hospitals and at special
centres. The work is carried out by doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, remedial
gymnasts, occupational therapists and speech therapists together with social
workers acting as a team. The hospital departments work closely with the Dis¬
ablement Resettlement Service of the Employment Service Agency (the De¬
partment of Manpower Services in Northern Ireland).
Medical rehabilitation may include the provision, free of charge, of artificial
limbs and eyes, hearing aids, surgical supports, invalid chairs, certain types of
invalid vehicles, and other appliances. Very severely physically handicapped
patients may be issued with electrical control equipment which enables a person
to operate up to 11 electrical devices such as alarm bells, radio and television, a
telephone, and heating. The controls are operated by continuous depression
of a microswitch or by sustained suction through a pneumatic tube with a
pipe-stem mouthpiece. Nursing aids for the handicapped at home can be
borrowed through the service.
Local authority social workers, home helps and occupational therapists
are available to hospital patients who have difficulties connected with
their illness. Social workers help to solve problems and are concerned with the
rehabilitation and resettlement of patients especially where the illness has been
long or where the disability results in changes in the patient’s life.
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Hospitals
Drug
Dependence
The hospital service plays a major part in the treatment of drug dependence,
either in specialised drug dependence units or as part of the general psychiatric
service. Only doctors licensed for the purpose by the Home Secretary may
prescribe heroin and cocaine to addicts in the treatment of addiction and all
medical practitioners are required to notify the Chief Medical Officer of the
Home Office of any patient they consider to be addicted to certain con-