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29
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT, 1948, SECTION 47
The conditions under which two old ladies were
existing were first brought to ray notice in September, 1952.
They were aged 80 and 70 years respectively and lived alone
in their own nine roomed house.
Both were senile, incontinent and completely
unable, even with the assistance of a Home Help, to look after
themselves or their home. Their rooms were mice and bug
infested, the main roof was leaking, broken windows and door
panels were stuffed with old paper and rags, internal decorations
were in an appalling state of filth and disrepair, drains were
frequently choked and overflowing over the yard and water and
gas supplies were periodically turned off and not re-instated
until interested Welfare Associations paid the outstanding
accounts.
Neither lady was registered with a doctor, and I
was able to persuade them to register with a local medical
practitioner.
Despite the distressing circumstances outlined
above, the Department made every conceivable effort to improve
the lot of these old persons. They refused every persuasion
to enter a suitable Home for Old Persons and although at our
instigation they accepted the services of a Home Help, the
Red Cross Meals, and assistance volunteered by several local
Welfare Associations, their conditions so deteriorated that
the only course left to us was to apply for their compulsory
removal to a London County Council Home for Old People where
both could receive proper care and attention.
The Magistrate granted an Order for a period of
six weeks, and it was not necessary to apply for an extension
of this Order as both ladies remained voluntarily in the home.
This is the first time we have had formally to
invoke Section 47 compulsory powers under the 1948 Act. The
last time we did so was in 1937 under Section 224 of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1936.