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106
the former kind of income with 30% within the lower range.
In fact, in the latter group, 50% had weekly incomes below
£6 13s. Od. Among the elderly the poorest are the very old, for
"employability" declines with age, and the unmarried or widowed
woman who, at any age, are less often employed than men.
Because of the relationship between health and "employability" it
naturally follows that the poorest among the old are, on the whole,
more incapacitated than the average elderly person.
At mid-year 1964, in England and Wales, the number of
men over 65 years and women over 60 years amounted to
7,136,000, or put more prosaically, one person in every 7 was of
retirement age; by 1980, the total is expected to reach 10 million.
At the present time there are more than 2 million people of 75
years or over, the majority of whom are women. Fortunately, the
vast majority of all old people live at home and are well and
active, but about three-quarters of a million are home-bound
through 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. There remains a further
million or more living alone who require some special attention.
This then is the extent of the problem.
Thirdly, there is need for greater research into the causes
and effects of the ageing processes and information so obtained
must be incorporated into the training syllabus of doctors and
nurses.
Manifestly the place in society of old people is not in institutions
because (a) this is practically and economically impossible,
(b) it is against the best interests of the elderly themselves, and
(c) it is undesirable for it robs them of their independence.
In effect this is an endorsement of the truism that old people
are infinitely better off in their own homes especially when infirmity
rather than illness seems to predominate and all our efforts should
be directed towards achieving this objective.
Our first aim, therefore, should be to ensure that the prospective
pensioner reaches retirement age in the best physical and mental
condition in order that he or she may commence the new life as a
happy member within the local community. It is surely a little
incongruous to harness municipal and voluntary organisations to
cope with what Dr. Kemp in his book A New Look at Geriatrics
has called "orphans in reverse" and yet not furnish prophylactic
facilities for the pre-geriatric. Again, to approach retirement with
no better equipment than the limited horizon of one's own job is
to court disaster. We must make it possible for people to prepare
for retirement by persuading them to consider it some ten or more