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SECTION 5.
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT, 1948.
PERSONS IN NEED OF CARE AND ATTENTION
The National Assistance (Amendment) Act, 1951, came into force on
1st September, 1951, to enable local authorities to deal without delay
with the removal of persons in need of care and attention. It amends
Section 47 of the 1948 Act making it possible for the medical officer of
health and another registered medical practitioner to apply to a court or
a single justice for an order to remove and detain in a home, for a period
not exceeding three weeks, any person in need of care and attention under
the terms of Section 47. It is not necessary to give seven clear days' notice
as under Section 47 of the principal Act. If it is necessary for the person
to be detained for a period longer than three weeks the local authority
may apply to a court as provided by Section 47 of the 1948 Act and an
order may then be made for an extension of the period of detention by
not more than three months. The medical officer of health is authorised
by the Borough Council to make application direct to the Court or a
justice.
No person was compulsorily removed to a hospital or other place
during the year. It was, however, necessary to investigate many complaints
of aged persons living in insanitary conditions who, it was alleged, were
not receiving adequate care and attention.
Many aged persons are enabled to live alone very happily by the help
of other occupants of the house. This may consist of help in bringing home
the heavier shopping or by helpful encouragement in the home. Others
receive great help from the Home Help Service or by the willing advice
and guidance given by the Hornsey Old People's Welfare Committee.
Many of the cases referred to the Health Department for action under
the National Assistance Act have become beyond the care of neighbours
and stubbornly refuse the assistance of the Home Help Service.
Occasionally complaints are received which appear to be motivated by
the desire of other occupants of the house to obtain more room.
The following are brief reports on some of the cases investigated during
the year.
Case A.—A woman of about 90 years of age, living in one room, who had
been known to the Department for many years because it had been necessary
on occasions to arrange for her room to be disinfected and cleansed. She was
always very truculent and refused to accept the service of a Home Help.
A great deal of rubbish was removed from her room and a slight improvement
made in the latter part of the year, but her health failed and she suffered
from a mild senile dementia. While arrangements were being made to remove
her compulsorily she agreed to be admitted to a residential home.
Case B.—A woman of 70 years who, it was alleged, lived in insanitary conditions,
and caused a nuisance to other occupants by smells from her room.
On investigation it was found that the house was fairly clean though she
had hoarded old newspapers and magazines and bones for a considerable
time. These she agreed to have removed and destroyed.
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