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Such a service was considered to be necessary more especially to provide for incontinent
elderly persons who may, unfortunately, soil their laundry so that it is in a condition
unacceptable to the ordinary commercial laundry.
Arrangements for laundering were made in the first place with the Council's Baths
Department for the work to be done at Essex Road Baths making use of old fashioned washing
machines installed some years ago. In view of the demand, and the proved usefulness of such
a service, the Council decided to install modern disinfecting and laundry equipment which
would obviate handling of the articles by the staff to the maximum extent
The installation at the Treatment Centre, Seven Sisters Road has now been completed and
a comprehensive hygiene service for elderly persons was formally instituted on 10th January 1959
The procedure, in brief, is as follows -
1. On receipt of information from a family practitioner hospital
County Council Health Visitor district nurse or through the
Department's own visiting staff for elderly persons that bedding
or clothing requires special treatment because of soiling a visitor
will call (if the case is not already known to the Department)
explain the scheme to the elderly person concerned and obtain consent
for the cleansing of the articles
2. The recipient is advised that a special laundry bag will be delivered
in which articles are to be placed after marking and entering on a list
provided. The person or a relative is asked to mark the linen but if
this cannot be arranged the Department's own staff undertake this at
the laundry, checking carefully to ensure that all articles are returned
and no complications ensue The contents of all bags are of course
carefully checked at the laundry.
3. The bags are collected by the Department's specially constructed
vehicle to contain soiled and dirty articles
4. Careful sorting and preliminary cleansing has to be done by the staff at
the laundry, who wear protective clothing.
5. The washed and sterilised articles are returned in the bag which has been
similarly treated, and the return is normally made within 24 hours A
longer period before return might well cause difficulty to many elderly
persons who have only the minimum belongings The average service for
each person is once weekly, but in special cases the work may be done
twice weekly.
Personal Cleansing
It will be understood that persons who require this type of laundry service will
of necessity, also have difficulties in regard to personal cleansing The Public Health
Department have for some time past made arrangements for nursing and bathing attendant staff
to visit the homes of such persons and there cleanse them as effectively as possible by means
of a bed bath.
It will be appreciated that in the circumstances of some homes this may be a difficult
and not altogether satisfactory arrangement If a person is confined to bed then of course.
no other arrangement can be made. Some persons however who receive the laundry service are not
entirely confined to bed but nevertheless it would be unsuitable for them to visit the Council's
Public Baths if, as is usually the case there is no bath in their own homes For this group of
elderly persons the Council have now provided a sitting-case ambulance which is used to convey
them to the Treatment Centre for a bath, under supervision and with assistance