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of enabling some of the aged and physically handicapped persons to get out of their
homes if only for an hour or two. This has brought about a waiting list for this
service and plans are in hand to extend the number of such sessions in a clinic
designed for the treatment of those with limited physical abilities.
With the increasing awareness of foot health, talks on this subject were started
for mothers' clubs at clinic centres to assist young mothers to understand the foot
problems of their children in addition to their own, especially during and after
pregnancy when so many foot problems may develop.
HOME HELP SERVICE
Home helps are provided under Section 13 of the Health Services and Public
Health Act 1968 to undertake domestic work in homes during emergencies such as
illness or confinements, and to assist aged persons who are unable to fend unaided
for themselves. Increasingly the service is attending to the demands of the latter
category, understandably because of the growing number of aged persons in the community,
earlier discharge from hospital as the community care service expands, and the policy
of keeping the aged in their own homes as long as possible rather than admitting
them to ahospital or welfare home. At the end of the year 264 home helps were employed
by the Counci1.
The present standard charge for home help service is 10/- an hour which is
reduced according to the financial circumstances of the person assisted. The
service is free to certain classes, e.g. those persons in receipt of supplementary
benefit or families where the mothers, suffering from toxaemia of pregnancy, have
submitted medical certificattes.
An in-service course of 7 lectures designed to assist home helps in their work was
attended by 29 home helps. Households numbering 3,765 were provided with the service
during the year compared with 3,724 last year.
(Statistics on page 96).
DAY CARE SERVICE
The day care service continues to function satisfactorily. This service which
is additional to the normal home help service, is given to selected aged persons by
neighbours or persons living in the immediate vicinity, and is intended to cater for
those persons chronically ill or bedridden and living alone who require visiting or
attention several times a day. The service is however, limited to the availability
of neighbours willing to undertake this paid work.
ARTIFICIAL KIDNEY MACHINE
During the year the Council undertook the work, and bore the cost, of carrying
out necessary adaptations including plumbing, electricity and water supplies to
another dwelling in the borough where a renal dialysis machine was being installed
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