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272
During the current year, some 1,364 cases for re-housing or
transfer were reviewed and medically assessed by the Associate
Medical Officer of Health. A high proportion of these applications
were subject to up-to-date reports from the Public Health Inspectors
and Social Workers in order that the degree of priority should be
fairly allocated.
In four instances it was necessary for the Medical Officer to make
a domiciliary visit to enable the appropriate assessment to be made.
DEPARTMENTAL TRANSPORT
During 1967, the department took delivery of eight new vehicles,
five to augment the fleet, and three to replace vehicles proving
uneconomical to repair, thus bringing the total vehicle strength to
fifty. Allocation of these extra vehicles to sections was as follows:
2 minibuses for the Meals-on-Wheels service, 2x8 cwt. vans for
the increased Bathing Centre and Home Bathing services, and one
17 cwt. van for Administration and Supplies.
One of the main changes occurring during the year was the
decision to make use of the Computer to assist the Transport
Organiser to determine more closely the actual usage of each
vehicle together with the amount of time spent on vehicle standby
and servicing. This resulted in a complete change in the method
formerly used to log vehicle usage and the whole fleet was enabled
to be hourly rated and an accurate cost charged to any of the
department's services requiring transport. The financial tabulations
provided proved a great help in the preparation of estimates for
the following year.
The volume of transport commitments continued to rise during
the year, particularly from the sections dealing with the physically
handicapped and holidays for the elderly, and use had to be made
of the School Bus hiring facilities available from the Inner London
Education Authority. The knock for knock agreement between
the London Boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark and ourselves
whereby help could be solicited from each other when tail lift
coaches were able to be spared, continued to be a valuable help.
An increase was also shown in the delivery and collection of
Home Nursing equipment and aids for the Handicapped, an
average of seventy items of equipment being delivered or collected
each week during the year from various addresses in the Borough.
Meals on Wheels
The number of vehicles used for this service was increased by
two, bringing the total number of rounds undertaken Monday to
Friday each week to seventeen, one of these rounds still being
undertaken by the British Red Cross Society as in the previous year.