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78
and also to Mrs. Simpkin, Miss Macdonald and Miss Greenaway
who keep me in touch with the patients and their needs and
problems. DEODORA CASSELS,
Chairman.
Care of old people
The Health Department is mainly responsible for services provided
for the elderly in their own homes—home help, home nursing
and home bathing services. Closely linked with these services
and mainly, but not exclusively, for old people is the loan of
home nursing equipment and the incontinence laundry service and
disposable incontinence pads. These services enable many old
people to remain in their own homes either alone or with the help
of relatives.
Many requests for visits to old people are received from general
practitioners, hospital medical social workers, relatives and neighbours.
The health visitors pay an initial visit to assess their needs
and either follow-up themselves or pass the case on to another
appropriate social service.
From time to time, very frail old people who are presenting
special difficulties are visited by a senior medical officer with
either a senior nursing officer or health visitor.
The health visitors made 1,444 visits to old people during the
year.
I should like to express my appreciation of the co-operation and
help I have had during the year from other branches of the
services connected with the aged, in particular from the Chief
Welfare Officer, hospital medical consultants, geriatricians and
many others who devote their time for the benefit of the old people
in Wandsworth.
Liaison with general practitioners
I refer again this year to the question of co-operation and liaison
with general practitioners, hospitals and other health and social
agencies. I dealt with the subject at length in both 1966 and 1967
and so need not repeat what was said in those Reports. I should,
however, stress that we do not in Wandsworth consider that the
term " attachment" or " secondment" of workers in the fields of
health and social services is a true or accurate description of the
arrangement. By far the better term, certainly as it applies to a
highly urbanised area like Wandsworth, is " linkage ". The staff
work in groups in a given area of the Borough and are thereby
linked to all the agencies concerned with health and social work
in that area. Such arrangements we call " linkage schemes ".
This policy of working closely with other branches of the health
services has been furthered during the year and at the present
time two health visitors are specifically linked with two group