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in a town of the size of Hornsey, the local authority responsibilities for
caring for the aged are shared, indeed scattered. The Area Welfare
Officer under the County Council has his office at Lansdowne Road,
Tottenham; the Home Nursing and Home Help services are at
Somerset Road, Tottenham, while the Authority responsible for the
housing needs and environmental care of old people is the Borough
Council, through the Health Department at the Hornsey Town Hall.
Also Section 47 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, and the National
Assistance (Amendment) Act, 1951, place the responsibility for promoting
action for the compulsory removal of old people to suitable instittions
on the Borough Council acting through the Medical Officer of
Health. Action under this Section is taken only as a last resort and
after extensive enquiries and efforts have been made to keep the old
person in his or her own home. To do this, help is obtained from the
home nursing and home help services, the meals-on-wheels service of
the Womens' Voluntary Service and the Old People's Welfare Committee.
Twenty-four persons were referred to the Department from various
sources during the year and in only one case was it necessary to obtain
a Court Order for removal to a Home. Details of this case are given
below.
Miss "A" was a single woman of 87 years of age who had been known
to the Department for about two years. When first brought to our
notice she lived alone in one top floor room which was very dirty
and neglected and in need of thorough cleansing. The old person
herself smelled offensively and had obviously not washed or changed
her clothes for some considerable time. There were no known
relatives and the only help received by this woman was from the other
tenants of the house.
Arrangements were made for the room to be cleansed and for a
home help to attend regularly, and although Miss "A" became
incontinent she was kept at home in reasonable conditions as the
result of regular cleansing of the soiled bedding and personal clothing
under the Borough's scheme for old people's washing. For a year
there was no cause for complaint but then her condition began to
deteriorate seriously. Miss "A" became more incontinent and caused
increased nuisance to other occupants of the house and also she
became absent-minded and on at least two occasions she caught her
clothing alight whilst sitting near the fire or gas ring. She insisted on
drying unwashed soiled garments at the open fire and it became
evident that for her own sake as well as for the sake of other persons
in the house she must be removed to an Old People's home. On the
authority of the Borough Council application was made to the Highgate
Court for an Order for the removal to a Home provided by the
County Council. She was removed to be detained compulsorily for
a period of three months but at the expiration of that time she was
quite happy and voluntarily remained in the home and on her instructions
the tenancy of her room in Hornsey was terminated.
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