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Care of the chronic sick
Attention has also been given to the needs of the considerable number of chronic
sick persons who remain in the Council's homes because hospital beds are not at present
available and to means of avoiding the deterioration of patients into a permanently
bedridden condition. During the year a special survey was made of eight large
welfare homes accommodating chronic sick and aged and infirm residents. Agreement
was reached in principle with the Metropolitan Regional Hospital Boards for
a link between each home and a hospital geriatric unit but at present this is restricted
in practice by the limited number of such units.
Arrangements for the care of chronic sick people in their own homes were also
under review. These included the laundering of fouled linen and the provision of
meals.
Invalid
Kitchens of
London
The Council's Wellare Service includes assistance in providing meals on wheels
which are distributed to aged persons by the agency of voluntary Old People's Welfare
Associations. Under the National Health Service, the Council may arrange for the
provision of meals at home for the sick, including the aged sick. Many parts of London
are covered by the service of the Invalid Kitchens of London, a voluntary organisation
which provides meals for invalids at various centres or delivers them by car to
the patients' homes. The Council made a grant to this organisation's funds towards
the cost of meals provided by them for sick persons living in their own homes.
Health,
welfare &
safety of
employed
persons &
hours of
employment
of j uveniles
Government Committees
The Council gave written and oral evidence before the Interdepartmental
Committee which was set up in 1946 under the chairmanship of Sir Ernest Gowers.
The Committee's report, published in March 1949, recommended the introduction of
legislation to improve the standard of health and welfare in non-industrial employment.
In the main it was found that the practices and standards adopted by the
Council conformed with those proposed by the Committee but representations were
made to the Home Office on certain recommendations which were considered to be
impracticable.
Industrial
health service
Written evidence was submitted to the Committee of Enquiry which was set
up in 1949 under the chairmanship of Judge Edgar T. Dale to consider the need for
an industrial health service and what steps might be taken to prevent overlappng
between it and the National Health Service.
CHEMICAL BRANCH
The work of the branch was carried on during the year at the three laboratories
at County Hall and the Northern and Southern Outfall Works, and Mr. C. J. Regan,
the Chemist-in-Chief, has submitted the following report:—
Particularly since the end of the recent war and as the implications of world
economic conditions have become apparent, the contribution which science can make
to the well-being of the community has been increasingly recognised. In government
service this is exemplified by the rapid expansion of the Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research and the reports of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy set
up in 1947. The undoubted success of these bodies and the realisation of the essential
need for their development has done much to make evident the uses of science in local
as well as national government, particularly in the case of such a large and complex
organisation as that of the London County Council dealing, as it does, with all aspects
of the life of the citizens of London.
Of the sciences included in the government schemes it is fair to say that chemistry
and physics occupy a foremost place, as indeed they must necessarily do in any
comprehensive research organisation. Both these subjects are catered for by the
Chemical Branch and there was much evidence during the year, as will be seen from