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practitioners do a great deal towards this end and the officers
of the National Assistance Board carry out their duties with
great kindness and understanding, but probably the most useful
of all the services is the provision of domestic helps under the
London County Council's scheme. When it is remembered that
although some of the needy old people have been reduced to these
circumstances through no fault of their own, in other cases the
cause is the old person's improvidence, intolerance, intemperance
or ill-temper, the kindness and generosity of some of the home
helps is beyond praise.
During the year 137 new cases were found to be in some
need. Cases come to light through relatives, neighbours,
friends, doctors, nurses, hospital almoners, National Assistance
Board officers and the Council's staff including public health
inspectors and rent collectors as well as through other channels.
The Old People's Welfare Association takes a very active part in
the care of old people throughout the Borough and acts in close
cooperation with the Borough Council.
National Assistance Act, 1948, Section 47
Although the majority of old people can, with the help of
the various services, remain reasonably comfortably in their own
homes, in a number of cases it is necessary for them to be removed
to a hospital or an old people's home. Some of these elderly
people refuse to go. Cases may be of sudden illness or the
worsening of a long standing one, or they may be cases which have
been known to the department for many years where a relative or
friend has become ill or died and the circumstances have changed.
Most of these cases can be dealt with by persuasion and
it is surprising the number of people who will not listen to the
advice of their doctor or friends whom they have trusted for many
years but who will take advice from officers of the Public Health
Department who may be comparative strangers.
In a few cases the threat of an application to Court is
necessary but in only two cases was it necessary to make an
application to the Court for a Removal Order under Section 47.
The first case was a woman of about 80 years of age
who occupied two rooms in a house but in fact lived in only one of