London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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DOMESTIC HELP SERVICE
The number of cases assisted fell slightly during the year, but the growth of the service in terms of hours worked and home helps employed is illustrated by the following figures :
| 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cases assisted | 32,503 | 34,785 | 34,557 |
| Hours worked | 4,601,168 | 4,660,600 | 4,779,600 |
| Home helps employed at end of year | 3,124 | 3,148 | 3,326 |
| Equivalent of wholetime staff | 1,992 | 2,029 | 2,089 |
The consistent pattern of cases assisted is shown by the percentage figures for the last three years :
| 1954 Per cent. | 1955 Per cent. | 1956 Per cent. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged and chronic sick | 77 | 80 | 79 |
| Maternity | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Tuberculous | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Others | 14 | 13 | 13 |
The proportion of aged and chronic sick requiring help remains high and if old
people are to continue to be cared for in their own homes its provision must be regarded
as an essential service.
Service is supplied as far as possible to all those in need but this year 76 applications
had to be deferred or refused because home helps were not available, as compared with
61 in 1955.
In addition to the ordinary service to households during normal working hours
special services are provided as described below.
Night
helps
Night helps who sit in with chronic sick patients in their own homes are provided
for a maximum of two nights a week to enable relatives to have some relief. They
attend normally from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and carry out such duties, except nursing, as
would be undertaken by the patient's family. The demand for this service was not
high, 37 new applications having been met (48 in 1955).
Child
helps
The supply of a home help may often help to avoid the need arising for receiving
children into care, but this did not always go far enough. The scheme was extended and
under it a resident home help may look after a child or children temporarily deprived of
the care of both parents (e.g. where the mother is in hospital and the father does night
work) and where no other adult is available at night. In exceptional circumstances, and
where paid employment has been given up for the purpose of undertaking the work,
relatives of children may be employed as child helps and neighbours or friends nominated
by the parents may be employed for these specific assignments. The employment of
relatives and friends or neighbours is subject to the Council's normal conditions of
service. The use of the resident help service was low, only 5 families (20 children) were
helped during the year under this scheme. The figures for 1955 were 5 families (16
children).
Early
morning
and
evening
help
Where children had to be cared for during the day-time only, home helps were
supplied and the hours of duty were arranged to fit in with parents' hours of work and
day nursery and school hours. Help was supplied for the care of children outside normal
working hours, i.e. between 7 and 9 a.m. and 5 and 7 p.m. to 180 new families, as
compared with 205 families in 1955.
72