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75
Of the many thousands of people who live alone, a large proportion
are infirm and it has been estimated that, in urban areas
at least, their numbers are twice what they were some 30 years ago.
It is patent that medical, social and economic factors have
enabled many more people to reach retirement age and, by reason
of the extremely high birth rate of the Victorian era and a much
lower rate in the succeeding generation, the proportion of elderly
people in the population has tended to increase somewhat
abnormally; at the present moment this proportion is in the region
of one-sixth, a figure which it is anticipated will rise to one-fifth
by 1977.
The elderly as a group, pose some very difficult problems
which, in the main, have always been shouldered by voluntary
organisations. Even as far back as the Middle Ages, care of the
aged and infirm was the prerogative of the monasteries and convents.
Since the last war however, the National Old People's
Welfare Council, established in 1940 by the National Council of
Social Service, commenced a most productive partnership between
voluntary and statutory bodies for today, there are represented on
its Board, some 50 voluntary societies, the National Assistance
Board and five Government Departments—Health, Labour, Education,
Pensions and National Insurance and Housing and Local
Government.
At the present time, out of nearly eight million people of
pensionable age in Britain more than two million are 75 years of
age or over, the majority of whom are women. It would appear
that approximately 96% of old people live at home and are well
and active, but that about three-quarters of a million are homebound
through some infirmity, and many are bed-ridden. A
further 300,000 are housed by local authorities and voluntary bodies
or are provided with accommodation by hospitals, and there
remains a million or more living alone who require some special
attention.
Many old people have struggled hard all their lives and their
independent spirit often involves them in much suffering. They
are reluctant to avail themselves of the help and financial assistance
offered or provided by voluntary and government agencies
and they lapse into a semi-starvation existence of the "tea and
bread and jam" category. This, coupled with loneliness and a
sense of uselessness, predisposes them to the greatest problem of
old age—that of severe mental deterioration.
Sir John Charles, in his final report as Chief Medical Officer
of Health to the Ministry of Health, reported that "the response