ABSTRACT
The first major change after 1948 was the entry of statutory authorities into the field of community work, and the consequent shift in the role of voluntary organizations. Local authority mental health departments began to shoulder the burden of care in the community. The greatest barrier to development was the artificial division between local authority, general practitioner and hospital services introduced by the National Health Service Act. The Messer Committee, in a report published in 1952, pointed out that there were always severe administrative problems in large-scale organizations. The problem of collaboration was acute in county areas, because of their size, and the scattered nature of population. The chlorpromazine group of drugs, popularly called tranquillizers, were first developed in 1952. The hospital atmosphere changed, and this undoubtedly facilitated both the concurrent open-door movement and the movement to bring psychiatric nurses into closer contact with general nursing. The basic method of the therapeutic community was the group meeting.
