London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Southwark 1969

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark, Borough of]

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The items on issue at 31 st December 1969 from the Council's stock were as follows (the figures in brackets show the number of items on loan at 31.12.68)

ItemOn Loan
Air rings55(63)
Back rests45(59)
Bed blocks28(25)
Bed cradles24(35)
Bed side rails2( 3)
Commodes710(680)
Dunlopillo mattresses24(31)
Easi-carri hoists17(23)
Feeding cups6(14)
Fracture boards38(38)
Hospital beds24(28)
Penryn hoists59(55)
Quadruped walking aids4( 4)
Ripple beds4( 7)
Rubber bed pans35(51)
Rubber toilet seats2( 7)
Tripod walking aids7(10)
Urinal bottles32(35)
Zimmer hoist1( 1)
Zimmer walking frames55(32)

Fireguards were also supplied to families in need with children under 12 years of
age and to necessitous elderly persons. At the end of the year there were 573 (701) on
loan.
Home Help Service
The home help service continued to function throughout the year, but, in common
with other services, only at the same level as last year due to financial stringency.
Assistance was given to 4,646 households during the year, of which 4,018 were long
term cases, and 9,662 visits were made by the organising staff. There was a slight increase
in the number of requests for night help, and assistance for toxaemia of pregnancy and
child help cases. The specially trained home helps worked with problem families for a
total of 1,773 hours and 1,807 hours was given to morning and evening help cases.
The fourth training course for home helps was organised, and a wider range of
subjects was covered by the talks, including, at the request of the home helps one on
mental health. This talk was given in one of. the Council's training centres and was
followed by a tour of the premises. Resulting from this course of in-service training, ten
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