LONG WAITING LIST

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4811, 20 February 1936, Page 6

LONG WAITING LIST

ENGLISH MENTAL HOSPITALS CROWDED. Mental hospitals in Durham County are so crowded that there is a waiting list of 400 mental defectives in need of care, says ’‘Reynolds.” During 1934 there were 176 new cases and only 29 vacancies. The position has become so bad that certain Public Assistance institutions are to be partly converted into mental homes. Councillor Alfred Tucker, J.P., a member of the County Health Committee, said he blamed the economic conditions of Durham ior the growth in mental cases. “This continued depression and fighting on the part of the vast army of unemployed to make ends meet,” he said, “often results in many of them being certified. The mind breaks under the terrible strain. Give Durham a chance in the coal industry, and I am convinced that, instead of being held up for room, we should have places to spare in our mental homes. lam hoping that before long there will be no need to keep moving these poor people around. We are launching a scheme for a colony for mental defectives at the village of School Aycliffe.”