London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Bexley 1970
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Bexley]
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ELDERLY IN RESIDENTIAL CARE
In the early months of the year a national survey on the subject of the residential care of old
persons was carried out and this report deals with some of the information collected in Bexley
London Borough and sent to the Department of Health and Social Security. The enquiry related
to premises and residents, but no comment is made here on the buildings, which, fortunately, are
mostly modern and attractively sited. There is of course a well-recognised need for more homes
but there is also a progressing capital development programme to meet that need. The first home
in the programme (Dovedale Close) was nearing completion at the end of 1970.
Their distribution is shown in the following table from which it will be seen that almost 50 per cent of the local authority residents were 85 years or over as against 13 per cent in the voluntary homes.
| AGE GROUP | MALE | FEMALE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Authority Homes | Voluntary Homes | Local Authority Homes | Voluntary Homes | |
| 30-49 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 50-64 | — | 4 | 2 | — |
| 65-74 | 9 | 43 | 9 | 1 |
| 75-84 | 28 | 52 | 60 | — |
| 85 and over | 27 | 13 | 76 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 65 | 112 | 147 | 3 |
| MALE : 177 | FEMALE : 150 | |||
As might be expected from this age distribution there is a more rapid turnover of accommodation
in local authority homes than in voluntary homes. Of the 212 local authority residents
76 (36 per cent) had been admitted during the previous twelve months, whereas of the 115
residents in voluntary homes 20 (17 per cent) had been admitted during the previous twelve
months. The following table shows the sources from which these new residents came. Most of
them had been living in ordinary housing accommodation, alone or with others, and many had
come from hospital. Certainly this was true of the 34 aged 85 and over, 31 of whom came from
these sources and 30 of whom went into local authority homes.
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