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18
deal with the welfare of the aged has been of great value to
the service as a whole and provides a good liaison with medical
practitioners and all those associated with the care of old
people.
The Laundry Service continues to he of great benefit
to old persons and is greatly appreciated by the District
Nursing Associations and the relatives of incontinent patients.
The demand for Home Helps has increased and so has the requests
for meals-on-wheels. All of these services are working to full
capacity.
The number of geriatric hospital beds is still
inadequate to meet the needs of an increasing aged population
and the waiting list for Homes for the Aged still remains large.
It was necessary to make one application to the
Magistrates for an order to enforce the removal of one patient.
This was a woman of 75 years, living alone under insanitary
conditions and incapable of caring for herself. The necessary
order (6 weeks) was obtained and she was removed to a London
County Council home. The original order was extended for a
further six weeks but the patient finally settled down and
voluntarily decided to remain permanently.
HEALTH EDUCATION
Health education in the sense of informing and
advising the public on health matters is part of the work of all
the public health Inspectors in their daily contact with the
members of the public and in the particular matters which have
required a visit from the inspector. Apart from cases of
notifiable infectious disease, however, the inspectors' visits
are mainly following a complaint by a member of the public and
an effort has therefore been made to approach sections of the
population who might not otherwise be met.
During the year letters were sent to the secretaries
of many of the societies and organisations in the Borough
offering the services of the department for lectures, demonstrations,
informal talks and leadership in group discussions on health and
allied local government subjects.
The stocks of lecture and visual aids have been
increased and a colour slide library of subjects with a local
interest is being compiled.