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Health Services.
Of these services the supervision of some is the direct delegated
responsibility of the Borough Council, but in all, in some way or
other, the Council is indirectly concerned. They are listed in the
middle of this report. I would like to comment on a few.
Private Nursing Homes.
These provide a total of 115 beds. They are adapted private
houses of varying design and of different ages, and, like the occupants,
in the main elderly. They provide problems in repair and maintenance,
of economical running which requires constant supervision
of bed spacing and of the proper proportion of nursing staff to patients.
Local bye-laws provide basic sanitary requirements and the permitted
number of patients, but these are more helpful in the original registration
of the home. The question of overcrowding or poor services
must be decided on medical grounds for individual homes, as and when
they occur. The problem of the hospitals is lack of nursing and
domestic staffs, but this is greater in the homes because of the types
of patient and the difficult conditions under which the staff work.
Care of Elderly Persons.
The report of the local branch of the Women's Voluntary Service
refers to four sections of their work for the elderly, in the Darby and
Joan Clubs and associated activities, in Welfare and in the Luncheon
Club. The fourth section, the Meals on Wheels, exists for the benefit
of invalids and elderly persons who cannot do their own shopping
or cooking, but have their own homes.
If assistance, not provided by relatives or friends, is needed in
washing, dressing and walking, accommodation in Old Persons Homes
has to be provided through the County Authority. If the elderly
person becomes bedfast and in need of nursing care, admission to
hospital or private nursing home is usually needed. There are many
bedfast old persons for whom Home Nursing, even combined with a
Home Help, is inadequate over a period of months or years.
Another valuable local service for the elderly is subsidised by
the local branch of the British Red Cross. A Foot Clinic is held
weekly to which any person over 60 years can attend for treatment.
The fee varies from nil to 3/- a treatment, and where the fee or part
is remitted, the difference is made up by the British Red Cross.
The Cadets of the British Red Cross also help certain elderly
persons by shopping, reading at home to them, taking them out in
bathchairs, and at Christmas collecting for presents for them. Senior
members of the Red Cross act as escorts to blind and elderly persons
who have to travel by bus or train to Out-patient Departments of
London Hospitals.
In view of the high proportion of hospital beds occupied by the
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