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rehabilitated to return to normal full-time employment;
nine others were able to undertake full-time employment
during the Christmas period. Although 30 old people left
owing to travelling difficulties during the winter months
their places were quickly taken. Two elderly patients from
Maudsley Hospital so benefited from the scheme that they
were discharged and two further patients from the same
hospital were accepted.
Schemes of this nature are becoming a major part of
the work of promoting the health and welfare of people of
pensionable age and more particularly those who have made
no preparation for retirement and have few, or no, outside
interests. They can have a dual purpose - to provide a
little light work and prevent premature physical and mental
deterioration in those who have nothing to occupy their
time, and to aid in the process of rehabilitation of those
who have been ill. For these reasons selection of patients
and medical supervision are necessary, and in this scheme
the advice of the non-medical adviser and that of the two
other doctors on the Committee (one a general practitioner)
is always available.
In the majority of cases the health of these old folk
has improved very considerably since they first attended,
particularly in cases of arthritis and rheumatism, and
their working capacity has increased three to four hundred
per cent.
There would seem to be no doubt that this Workroom
for the Elderly is of considerable value and fulfils a
long standing need in Camberwell. It is hoped that it will
be possible to extend these activities and set up similar
work centres in other parts of the Borough.
Gompulsory Removal of Aged Persons
In spite of all the services provided for old people
it is sometimes inevitable, where a person is unco-operative,
or has reached such a state of senility, ill-health or
frailty that they can no longer be adequately cared for
in their own homes and refuse to enter a suitable home or
hospital voluntarily, that a Court Order must be sought
for their compulsory removal.
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