View report page

10
Private bath facilities consist of 24 baths each for men and women Attendances during the year
totalled 76,659 as compared with 79,626 in the previous year. The decline in attendance is thought
to be largely due to the Council's rehousing schemes which have provided hitherto regular users with
their own facilities. The baths are available every day and charges are Monday to Wednesday:
adults 6d., children 3d.; Thursday to Sunday: 10d. Old age pensioners, unemployed or blind
persons can obtain baths from Monday to Friday at a cost of 1d. Foam baths have been introduced
in both the men's and women's sections. They can be had in private and for this reason are often
preferred to Turkish Baths, which are communal.
Public laundry facilities consist of a machine laundry, comprising eight fully automatically
controlled washing machines, three water-extractors and 24 drying racks, and a hand laundry provided
with 16 composite units lor washing, boiling and ironing, 3 water-extractors and 16 drying racks.
The installation of automatically controlled washing machines has encouraged greater use of the
machine laundry and it is in some measure due to this that attendances at the hand laundry have
declined. Further modifications to the controlling apparatus have achieved improvements in the
quality of laundrywork and a saving in time. It has been noted that the number of young married
women using these facilities has greatly increased.
Medical Examinations.
Staff.—The Medical Officer of Health is medical adviser to the Council for staff purposes. During
1961, one hundred and thirty-one examinations of the Council's employees and new entrants to the
superannuation scheme were carried out.
Parking Meter Exemptions.—The Council are empowered in certain circumstances to give exemption
from parking meter charges to a person who is severely disabled. During the year, sixty-five
applications were referred to the Medical Officer of Health for observations and, if necessary, medical
examination.
Home Safety.
The Home Safety Act received the Royal Assent on the 18th May, 1961. It enables certain local
authorities (including Metropolitan Boroughs) to promote safety in the home by publishing or making
other arrangements for giving information or advice on the subject and to make contributions to
voluntary organisations whose activities consist of, or include, the promotion of safety in the home.
The Act repealed Section 82 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1957, which contained
comparable powers to be exercised by each Metropolitan Borough Council within its own area.
The need to arouse public awareness to the serious problem presented by home accidents is
imperative. It does not appear to be generally realised that in England and Wales more people die
annually as a result of home accidents than are killed on the roads. The provisional figures for the
year 1961, which are 6,648 and 6,237 respectively, again exemplify the position. In addition there is
a yearly average of some 75,000 hospital in-patients who have suffered accidents at home. Ignorance
and carelessness appear to be the major causal factors and at a Conference held by The Royal Society
for the Prevention of Accidents it was suggested that the continued existence of such a state of affairs
indicates an unhealthy complacency.
Within the County of London estimates based upon a London County Council survey indicate that
annually at least 25,000 home accident victims go to hospital and of these about 1,650 receive in-patient
treatment averaging 21 days each, which in total represents the occupation of 94 hospital beds for a
full year. During 1961 the London Ambulance Service removed to hospital 121 home accident cases
from addresses in St. Marylebone. The number who reached hospital by other means or who were
treated by doctors at home or at the surgery is unknown but it seems clear that a large proportion were
children under 5 or persons over 65 years of age, the latter group accounting for about one-third of the
total number.
The most common causes ot injury are falls (60 per cent.—chiefly among old folk), poisoning (17 per
cent.—three in every four caused by domestic gas), burns and scalds (10 per cent.), and suffocation
and choking (8 per cent.—about three in every four concerning children under 5 years of age).
In the field of prevention the Department's activities take the form of general publicity and the
giving of advice and information by (1) informal personal contact, (2) the use of posters, leaflets,
and other printed matter, (3) co-operation with the London County Council in their annual Home
Safety Weeks, particularly by arranging window and other displays and distributing leaflets. In
addition arrangements are being made shortly to commence a series of talks illustrated by films and