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A therapeutic group for alcoholics supervised by a Bexley
Hospital consultant psychiatrist meets at Castlewood on
Wednesday evenings.
GERIATRIC SERVICES
Although additional local authority powers and duties are
envisaged in a new Bill now before Parliament, present legislation
covering the specific needs of elderly people is still scanty and
much of the work now being executed in this field is dependent
upon the enthusiasm and dedication of the staffs of enlightened
local authorities and hospital boards.
For years illnesses and disabilities of elderly persons had been
considered a natural corollary of old age and, ipso facto, not
worthy of special attention. Indeed, until more recent times, lack
of positive effort towards alleviating disabilities in old age was
often justified by attributing them to degenerative processes and
therefore not preventable. Moreover, many consciences were
salved by the suggestion that, in any event, treatment of the
elderly would merely prolong their misery and that their interests
would best be served if they were left alone and undisturbed.