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NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT, 1948
Section 47
Where it is considered necessary, the Council has the authority,
under this section of the Act, to make application for a Court Order
for the emergency removal to hospital, or institution, of an aged,
infirm, or physically incapacitated person who is living in insanitary
conditions and who is “unable to devote to himself, and is not
receiving from other persons, proper care and attention”.
There is also provision under the National Assistance (Amend-ment)
Act, 1951. for a magistrate to order the emergency removal of
such persons to a hospital or institution for a period not exceeding
twenty-one days, on certification by the Medical Officer of Health
and a general medical practitioner that such action is necessary.
During the year under report, it was necessary for the Council
to make application for Committal Orders in respect of two old
ladies, aged 96 and 82, both of whom resisted all efforts to persuade
them to enter a Home for the Elderly voluntarily. It had become
increasingly evident during the course of regular visits by the
department's Welfare Assistants that these two old people were
unable to care for themselves adequately. The former, who lived
alone, was housebound and almost blind and, although the old lady,
aged 82, resided with her son and was also regularly visited by her
daughter who lived nearby, her condition, which was complicated
by a confused mental state, deteriorated to such an extent that her
son felt quite unable to cope. At the expiry of the statutory period
of three weeks, both these old people agreed voluntarily to remain
in the Homes to which they had been admitted.
Fortunately, it is only in exceptional cases that application for
compulsory removal is found to be necessary.
During the course of the year, arrangements were also made for
ten old people to be admitted to Homes for the Elderly which they
had agreed to enter voluntarily.
Section 50
Under the provisions of this section of the Act, it is the duty
of the Borough Council to make arrangements for the burial or
cremation of a person dying in the Borough where it is impossible to
find relatives, or others, who would be prepared to accept responsibility
for the funeral arrangements. The costs incurred by the
Council in such cases, inclusive of administrative expenses, are,
where appropriate, recoverable from the estate of the deceased
At the request of the Coroner's Officer, arrangements were made
for the burial of Mr. S. S., who died in furnished lodgings on 17th
August, 1959. The request was made as a result of unsuccessful