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46
MEDICINAL BATHS & TREATMENT CENTRE
It is pleasing to report that the recently modernised Cleansing Station has
completed its first full year with satisfying results. A total of 919 persons, involving
1,432 treatments were dealt with. To have treated such numbers using the old
premises would have been difficult if not impossible and the Council are to be
congratulated on their foresight in supplying these splendid modern facilities.
Our latest venture to assist the bathing of the elderly and infirm is making
steady progress. It has been possible to arrange up to four baths in one day, but
the morning sessions are not easy to arrange and a number of fruitless journeys arc
made to the homes. 17 persons shared the 256 baths arranged.
At the moment this service is confined to cases receiving medical attention,
mainly skin conditions, arthritis, paralysis and senility. It is very easy to envisage
how this service would expand if additional transport and labour were available
to bathe all elderly people lacking facilities in their own homes.
The following three cases highlight the problems encountered in this service :—
1. In February a certificate was received requesting bathing for a man aged
75. He was in a filthy condition, as was his ground floor one room flat.
The premises were cleansed, the rubbish removed, the little bedding there
was laundered and arrangements made for his weekly bathing. On the
1st March he collapsed in the bath, was taken to Hammersmith Hospital
and his condition diagnosed as malnutrition. After discharge from hospital, meals were arranged for him at one of the luncheon clubs. He was
rarely at home on his bath day, or if at home was not feeling well enough
for a bath. His meals at the club were discontinued as he would not
pay for them.
In May the cycle recommenced following receipt of a certificate from
his doctor asking for bathing to be arranged.
2. One old lady at her first visit brought her husband, who is 20 years
younger, as she felt safer if he bathed her.
3. In July an elderly male was encouraged to have a weekly bath. He was
extremely deaf and had not had a bath for 20 years. Good clothing was
obtained for him and his old torn and filthy clothes burnt. After a few
baths he decided that he would be fit enough to last to the next summer.
The year under review has seen a considerable increase in the number of
persons, resident outside the area, treated for scabies and lice. This increase was
due to the treatment of all Kensington Borough Council cases and certain L.C.C.
and Acton cases normally treated at the Kensington Centre, which was closed in
May 1962 for re-construction. Apart from this influx, which it is anticipated will
terminate in mid-1963, facilities were utilised by several neighbouring authorities
outside the London area. In all, 498 treatments were given to Hammersmith
patients and 633 to outsiders.
Of some concern is the increase in the number of males requiring treatment for
pubic lice, approximately 80% being in the 18 to 25 age group. 10 males and 5
females were treated in 1955, but whilst the number of females reporting has tended
to decrease (only 1 being treated this year), the number of males has gradually
increased so that 43 were dealt with in 1962. An increasing number of these cases
are being referred by the special V.D. Clinics. The younger patients have no doubt
as to the cause of their infection but the older man is either purposely vague or
blames a public lavatory. In either case the reservoir of infection remains untreated.
The number treated for head lice decreased from 145 in 1961 to 101 this year.
Most cases of live vermin are in the heads of teenage girls, school children being
mainly in the nit stage when treated.