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46
HOME HELP SERVICE
A comprehensive home help service for those who require assistance by reason of infirmity, ill
health, or age, is provided by the City Council, under Section 29 of the National Health Service Act,
1946. So as to provide local facilities, the service operates from three offices, situated at the City Hall
and the two district offices in Paddington and St. Marylebone.
Prior to 1965, courses of in-service training were arranged for new entrant home helps from time
to time by the former London County Council, who were then responsible for the service. On amalgamation,
the home help organisers assumed this responsibility and imparted guidance to the home
helps about their work by individual discussion, and gave practical advice as to the performance of
their duties in the patients' homes.
It was decided in 1969 that in the interests of uniformity in-service training should be reintroduced
and courses consisting of five sessions of 1 to 1½ hours duration were devised; each
course held during five consecutive weeks on one afternoon a week. In order to provide a local
venue, convenient to the home helps, two courses were run concurrently, one in the north and one in
the south of the City. The syllabus consisted of sessions devoted to
(a) introduction to the health and social services;
(b) conditions of service—time sheets; travelling times; expenses; special jobs;
(c) domestic duties of the home help;
(d) health requirements of all groups (children; maternity cases; home safety, etc.);
(e) posture and lifting, for which a film was provided;
(f) households with special difficulties (tuberculosis; mentally and physically handicapped;
incontinence, etc.).
Talks on these subjects were given by the Chief Nursing Officer, home help organisers, and an
administrative officer from the Health Department's Management Section. Each course was followed
by a week's practical training at a College for Further Education in the cleaning of rooms, preparation
of meals, shopping for foodstuffs, simple calculations, etc. These practical courses were not entirely
satisfactory and plans for future in-service training will probably include practical work undertaken
in some of the City Council's residential establishments, under the supervision of the home help
organisers and their assistants, in place of attendance at a Technical College.
To meet the increasing demand upon the service, the City Council approved the employment of a
further ten full-time home helps during the financial year 1970/71, and this has proved to be of
considerable assistance in helping to maintain an adequate service, although recruitment difficulties
abound in some parts of the City. The practice of rigid zoning of the home helps' districts and a
stringent assessment of the assistance required by the patients introduced some two years ago
continues to be imposed. By these means, the available work force is used to its maximum.
Number of home helps 1970 1969
(a) Joining service 61 53
(b) Leaving service 55 54
(c) Employed on 31st December 225 219
=full-time equivalent 210 200
Statistics relating to the home help service are set out in Table 41, page 84.
NURSING HOMES
Ten nursing homes are registered with the City of Westminster, all of which take medical patients;
6 also take surgical patients; 3 take maternity patients and one is registered under Part 3 of the
Mental Health Act, 1959 to take patients suffering from mental illnesses. Three of the homes are
non-profit making.
Under Section 1 of the Abortion Act, 1967, 5 of the ten registered nursing homes applied to and
were approved by the Department of Health and Social Security to take patients for treatment for the
termination of pregnancy.
No new nursing homes were registered during 1970.