Report of the Committee of Inquiry on The Rehabilitation, Training and Resettlement of Disabled Persons

Abstract

It is over 20 years since serious attention was first given to the rehabilitation of the injured or those permanently damaged in health. There were 3 important reports: that of the British Medical Association on fractures (1935), of the Delevingne Committee on the Rehabilitation of Persons Injured in Accidents (1939) and the Tomlinson report on the Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Disabled Persons (1943) [this Bulletin, 1943, v. 18, 263]. It was the last which stimulated the enactment of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, 1944, to make " further and better provision for enabling persons handicapped by disablement to secure employment " and the committee which now reports was set up to enquire how this Act, and other legislation on cognate matters, was working. Its chairman was Lord Piercy, and it comprised 2 medical and 10 other members. The term " rehabilitation " was taken to mean " the whole of the process of restoring a disabled person to a condition in which he is able as early as possible to resume a normal life". This brings in disabled housewives as well as industrial workers. The conclusion reached was that "the present statutory powers and arrangements for administration are sufficient to provide all the facilities that are needed for the satisfactory resettlement of the disabled person", but the whole of the procedures are subjected to an exhaustive survey and a number of changes, mainly minor, in administrative responsibility are recommended. For example it is recommended that the provision of sheltered employment in workshops or in the home should be made under the powers given by- the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act instead of the National Assistance or National Health Service Acts. There are many recommendations for tightening up or developing existing procedures such as the need for enquiry to find out how many persons receiving sickness benefit for more than 6 months could be assisted to return to work if suitable facilities for rehabilitation and resettlement were made available to them; hospitals are invited to review their arrangements for physiotherapy and convalescence; each major hospital should have a " resettlement clinic " to assess the needs of individual patients referred to it; and hospital boards should have rehabilitation committees. The Ministry of Labour have set up 15 industrial rehabilitation units but more are needed. Continuity in the rehabilitation process is important and there are advantages in providing comprehensive facilities for hospital rehabilitation, industrial rehabilitation and assessment of capacity on the one site. The local authority welfare services are responsible for meeting the social needs of the disabled but have, as yet, done little apart from the blind. To stimulate them to do more it is recommended that specific grants from the Exchequer should be paid for the welfare services provided under section 29 of the National Assistance Act. [This, however, appears to run counter to the present intention of the Government which is to abolish ear-marked percentage grants and substitute for them a general block grant.] Local authorities are urged to provide not only centres for occupational and social purposes for the disabled who are outside the employment field but also short-stay hostels for those fit to leave hospital but not yet fit to return to their homes. Local authorities should do more to provide aids to enable the disabled living at home to look after themselves and in the case of a housewife to do her work; structural alterations are sometimes needed for the housing of a wheel chair. The criteria used for inclusion in the disabled persons register which now contains 798, 279 names were examined and some minor recommendations made. The '' quota '' system under which 3% of the employees in every firm employing 20 or more must be on the disabled persons register is working reasonably well and only small improvements are suggested. 2 occupations, car park attendants and passenger electri