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45
As a general practice it is our aim to keep old persons out of hospitals or institutions
wherever this may be possible. The aged do not wish to leave their own homes, even when
these homes consist only of one room. It will be seen from the above table that it was possible
to make arrangements for over 50 per cent. of the persons we visited to remain at home.
This was achieved by utilising the services of the various voluntary bodies in the borough,
such as the Invalid Kitchens who supplied meals to those old people who were house-bound,
the St. Pancras Association for the Care of the Aged who supplied wireless sets in some cases,
a voluntary visitor, a holiday, and various other amenities. Most welcome assistance was
received from the home help service of the London County Council. In other cases it was
possible to arrange for the rooms of old people to be cleansed and re-decorated in order that
a new start could be made under improved conditions.
It is essential that constant supervision should be maintained. Visits of voluntary
workers have been much appreciated and their reports to me on the health, happiness and
requirements of those they visited have been of material assistance.
It is with pleasure that I report that I did not need to obtain a Magistrate's Order for
the compulsory removal of any person during 1951.
Section 50—Burials.
This section places upon the Borough Council the responsibility of causing to be buried
or cremated the body of any person who dies or is found dead in the area, where no suitable
arrangements are otherwise likely to be made.
Hospital Management Committees and Boards of Governors of Teaching Hospitals
have power to arrange and pay for the burial or cremation of patients who die in hospital—
in the case of mental patients, under section 258 of the Lunacy Act, 1890, as amended by the
ninth schedule to the National Health Service Act, and in other cases under the common law.
The Minister of Health, vide Circular 13/49 dated 1st March, 1949, asked these Hospital
Committees and Boards to exercise this power. An arrangement has since been in force in
St. Pancras whereby the Public Health Department carries out such burials on behalf of a
number of the hospitals in the Borough, recouping expenses as far as possible and charging
any balance to the hospitals.
89 burials were carried out during 1951, of which 48 were hospital cases, at a cost of
£767 15s. 6d.—an average of £8 12s. 6d. per case.
Recovery was effected of £716 16s. 7d.—an average of £8 Is. Id. per case or 93 • 36 per cent,
of the total funeral cost—and was obtained from the following sources :—
£ s. d.
Hospitals 249 10 5
Death grants 123 7 0
Assurance Companies 34 12 2
Employers 10 16 7
Private persons 136 4 6
Other sources 20 9 1
Ministry of Pensions 20 14 5
Ministry of National Insurance 23 8 0
National Assistance Board 12 15 6
Post Office Savings Department 25 0 1
Treasury Solicitor 26 9 6
Sale of effects 4 10 0
Cash on Body 28 19 4