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I believe that you are acquainted with their case. Mr. X is
about 87 years of age and Mrs. X. about 92. They have a Home
Help in the mornings. Mr. X. says that they really need assistance
in the house from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Mrs. X. frequently
falls over. Her husband is very weak and does not look like living
much longer.
The County Regional Welfare Officer at Romford is unable to
find any accommodation where they could be taken for care and
attention.
With apologies for troubling you,
Yours sincerely,
Dear Doctor,
Mr. & Mrs. X.
In the first place allow me to thank you for your letter for which
I am indebted to you. I do hope you will keep writing me about
such cases, because we do have every due regard to your communication
is and I sincerely hope that by constant repetition the time will
come when, at last, something will be done.
It is my concern as Medical Officer of Health that something
should be done to ameliorate the lot of these and hundreds of other
old people who find themselves in similar circumstances, but from
an executive standpoint there is nothing I can do personally.
So far as domestic help is concerned, we can and do provide
the help to do the domestic chares, but we have no authority to use
domestic helps as sitters-in which is really what is required in this
case.
I can well understand that the County Regional Welfare Officer
has been unable to find suitable accommodation for this old couple
to go to, because there is not sufficient accommodation to provide
for all the cases which require to be looked after as do Mr. and
Mrs. X.
There is the still further consideration in dealing with cases
such as this and that is, if we uproot these old folk from their own
familiar surroundings and put them into places which we think are
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