View report page

21
which they were unable to provide for themselves and were
not receiving from other people.
Where the Medical Officer of Health and another registered
Medical Practitionei certifies that, in the case of a person to
whom Section 47 (1) of the National Assistance Act, 1948
applies, and it is necessary, in their opinion, that he should be
removed without delay fiom the premises in which he is residing,
an application for a removal order may be made to the
appropriate court of summary jurisdiction or to a single justice
without giving the person whose removal it is desired to secure
or the person in charge of him seven clear days' notice which
was previously necessary under Section 47 (7) of the 1948 Act.
The application may be made either by the local authority
or by the Medical Officer of Health where the authority
authorises him to make such application and it will not be
necessary to give notice to the person in charge of the hospital
or other place providing the applicant shows that such person
is willing to ieceive into the establishment the person in need
of care and attention.
The maximum period foi which an order may be made under
the new Act is three weeks and any application for an order
extending this period by not more than three months from time
to time will be subject to the normal procedure under Section 47
of the Act of 1948.
The Council at its meeting on the 25th September confirmed
the recommendation of the Public Health Committee
authorising the Medical Officer of Health to make applications
to a court of summary jurisdiction or to a single justice, as
the case may be, for orders for the removal to any hospital or
suitable place of any person to whom the Act applies.
Local Medical Practitioners were communicated with, setting
out the powers of Local Authorities under this Act.
No persons were dealt with under this Act during the year.
(b) Section 50 requires a Local Authority to arrange for the
burial or cremation of a person who has died or been found
dead, and where it appears to the Local Authority no suitable
arrangements are being made for the disposal of the body.
Provision is made in the Act of 1948 for recovery from the estate of the
deceased person, or any person who for the purposes of this Act was liable
to maintain the deceased immediately before his death, of the whole or
part of the expenses incurred.
On the 1st March, 1949 the Ministry of Health issued a circular,
(No. 13/49), dealing more particularly with persons dying in hospital. The
circular asks Hospital Committees and Boards to exercise their power to
arrange burial where—
(a) deceased patients' relatives cannot be traced.
(b) those whose relatives are traceable but were not, immediately
before the patient's death, liable for his maintenance under Section 42 (1)
of the National Assistance Act and are not willing to arrange for the
burial; and
(c) those whose relatives are unable to obtain a death grant under
the National Insurance Act, 1946, and cannot otherwise afford to
arrange for burial.
Where a "liable" relative fails to carry out his responsibility, Hospital
Committees and Boards are advised to refer the matter to the Local Authority
upon whom the duty rests under Section 50 of the Act, in view of the powers
of recovery from the liable relative.