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44
LAUNDRY SERVICE FOR THE INCONTINENT.
One of the unforeseen effects of the National Health Service
Act was the loss of those services which had been so efficiently
provided by many Relieving Officers in various parts of the country.
Among these services was one that had grown with the passing of
time and appears now to have become the responsibility of the
Public Health Service, viz. the care of the aged—neither sick nor
well. Many of these "Half-way House" patients are just incontinent,
and in order to assist this small but unfortunate group
it was decided in August, 1951, to establish a municipal laundry
service in association with the Borough of Ealing's laundry which
already deals with the baths and education service work. This
laundry service was commenced on 1st April, 1952, the delay
being due to the difficulty in securing the necessary equipment.
Inquiries were made from St. Marylebone and Kensington
Borough Councils, where services were already in operation, and
full attention has been given to the information and experience
they have had in this work.
The Public Health Act, 1936, Section 84, dealing with the
cleansing of filthy articles gives powers to local sanitary authorities
" to cleanse at the authority's expense any article which, upon a
certificate of the Medical Officer of Health or the Sanitary Inspector,
require to be cleansed in order to prevent injury or danger of injury
to the health of any person in the premises." An estimate was
made of the number of persons who might come into this category
on the assumption, which seemed to be borne out in other districts,
that one would have to deal with roughly one to two per 10,000
of the population. In fact, in Ealing with a population of 187,000
our average number of persons in the scheme is approximately
20 each week, and in spite of letters to general practitioners
regarding the availability of the scheme, the wide knowledge of
its working by the health visitors, district nurses, and home helps,
the numbers seem to vary very little. A few are added from
time to time by local hospitals from the out-patient departments
of the geriatric units in the district, but, in general, one can say
that as old people die and come off the list so new ones are added
to keep the figure roughly at about 20. The following figures are
of interest in this connection :
Number of cases dealt with from 1/4/52 to 3/1/53 46
Number of cases died 18
Number of cases removed to hospital 11
Number of cases where other arrangements made 2
Number of cases recommended by:
Nurses 30
Doctors 9
Home Help Section 5
Sanitary Inspectors 1
Health Visitors 1