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* Alternative registration for maternity, medical or surgical case.
† Numbers include beds for medical and surgical patients which cannot be used if maternity patients are
accommodated in the same room.
‡ Number includes 45 beds registered for medical or mentally disordered cases.
Invalid meals for London
Under the National Health Services Act, 1946 the Council had power to arrange for the
provision of meals at home for the sick, including the aged sick. Many parts of London
were served by the Invalid Kitchens of London, a voluntary organisation which provided
meals for invalids at several centres or delivered meals by car to the patient's home. The
Council paid a grant to this organisation towards the cost of meals provided by them for
persons in their own homes. Towards the end of 1959 the voluntary organisation asked
the Council to take over this service as soon as possible but the legal formalities were not
completed until December 1961. In the meantime, the metropolitan borough councils
asked for powers to be obtained in a General Powers Act to enable them to provide this
service and provision was included in the London County Council (General Powers) Act,
1961. Discussions then took place through the Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint
Committee concerning the transfer of this service to the boroughs but no decision was
reached. Under the London Government Act, 1963 this service will be transferred to the
new London boroughs. Since 1961 the service has been maintained and operated by the
School Meals and Catering department who have replaced and made improvements in
vans and equipment. The number of meals served during recent years was as follows:
1960/1 1961/2 1962/3 1963/4 1964/5
Meals served 180,291 196,695 202,430 239,814 251,525
Welfare Committee establishments
Medical supervision of all types of establishments under the control of the Welfare
Committee continued. These include large and small homes for the aged and infirm,
accommodation for mothers and babies, homeless families units, homes for the blind and
lodging houses.
The Public Health department has continued to advise on steps to be taken to limit the
spread of infectious diseases in homeless families units. The features which are of special
importance in the spread of these infections include the close and intimate nature of contact,
both of the adults and children, for a large part of the time they are in the units, the common
feeding accommodation and the shared sanitary accommodation. Much has been done to
stimulate the women inhabitants to a sense of responsibility in the maintenance of sanitary
accommodation in good order. Where the inhabitants have failed to respond to training
extra domestic staff have been allocated to maintaining clean sanitary accommodation.
In the welfare homes the health of the chronic sick and other illnesses of an ageing
population receive the constant attention of the medical and other staff. The treatment of
minor conditions within the homes increases the elderly persons' sense of security but when
a doctor has a large number of the elderly on his list it can be very time-consuming. Special
investigations have been arranged and preventive measures carried out in order to maintain
as high a standard of health as possible within the homes.
Public Health Laboratory
The facilities at the Medical Research Council's Public Health Laboratory at the County
Hall and the close co-operation with its staff have continued to be of great value.
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