View report page

29
In addition to the services provided by the Paddington Borough
Council for the elderly, a number of voluntary organisations provide
the following supporting services which enable the elderly person
to remain at home:
Meals on Wheels.—In Paddington the provision of hot meals
at the home of the elderly devolves mainly on the Women's
Voluntary Services, who deliver meals twice a week to any one
person, and I understand the service is restricted to the housebound.
The Salvation Army also supply meals, but their scheme would
appear to be restricted in its scope owing to the difficulties of
transport.
The Invalid Meals Service, organised by the London County
Council, has of course a wider scope than meals for the elderly and
is used for appropriate cases.
I would like to stress the importance of the possibility of the
use of individual frozen meals to the elderly in their homes, as an
adjunct to the Meals on Wheels Service. The advantages of this
service are:—
(a) The possibility of storage, before delivery, in proper
cold stores.
(b) The times of delivery to the recipient are not limited.
(c) Greater ease of handling.
(d) There is no need for the meal to be eaten at the time of
of delivery if the recipient so wishes.
(e) The method of heating is simple (even with the best
equipment hot meals often need re-heating when
delivered).
The disadvantages are:—
(a) They are not suitable for all (e.g. the blind and the feeble).
(b) There is a need to educate the recipients in the proper use
of the meals.
Bearing the above in mind, I feel that a greater use of frozen
meals in conjunction with the Meals on Wheels Service is to be
advocated.
Chiropody.—In Paddington this service is provided both by the
Paddington Old People's Welfare Committee and by the London
County Council.
The Paddington Old People's Welfare Committee scheme
provides for the following:—
(a) Some 1,500 treatments per year at the surgery of a local
Chiropodist.
(b) The equivalent of two sessions per week at a clinic at
Leonora House.
(c) Some 650 treatments at the homes of the housebound.
The London County Council hold a foot clinic at the Welfare
Centre, 283a Harrow Road, on six occasions each week. These
clinics are not exclusively for the elderly.
Home Helps.—This service provided by the London County
Council is particularly of assistance to the elderly. It has expanded
considerably over the last few years, and there are now some 100