At present Colton Ward is undergoing structural alterations, and being adapted to take twenty beds for patients.

This work, it is hoped, will be completed by the end of March and in the spring the first mentally sub-normal children will be admitted.

At present there is no hospital in Northamptonshire which gives this type of treatment, and Mr. W.A. Dowgill, group secretary of Kettering and District Hospital Management Committee, said that one thing about having treatment at Rushden was that children would be nearer their own homes.

He said the conversion of the Colton Ward was not really expensive.

Mr. Dowgill said that some new staff would be needed and that arrangements for nursing staff to study methods in this type of work were being made with another hospital.

"Whether we will be able to recruit the nurses is another matter," he said.

Trained

Mr. Rowan Flack took over as nursing administrator at the hospital eighteen months ago.

A married man, Mr. Flack is trained in mental nursing. The "Echo" asked him what he felt about this re-designation of part of the hospital.

"The basic thing is that I feel this hospital has not been running at full strength for some time. Where there are priorities we have to take on any of them, and this seems to be one, both in this region and nationally.

"We have to fill the beddage and we are going to fill it in this way," said Mr. Flack.

Priority

"We have taken on a priority and the people will certainly be cared for. We will be getting new staff but not so much because of the new type of work but because we have not enough at present," he said.

The children who will go to the hospital will probably be up to the ages of about 11, and the work carried out to accommodate them will include the installation of a new radiator system and a day room.

Final word from Mr. Flack. Does he see it as a personal challenge?

"It represents no challenge whatsoever. A good, competent and well trained nurse could do it."