View report page

36
these persons, and Mondays and Thursdays have now been selected
and fit in with the other work of the laundry service of the Council.
The Public Health Committee have purchased additional equipment
which has been added to the equipment already possessed by the
Baths Committee and this is available for other services when it is
not being used for the public health service.
The garments on arrival at the laundry are removed from the
bin and examined by the Sanitary Inspector who issues a Certificate
under Section 84 of the Public Health Act 1936, that they require
cleansing. They are then checked and numbered by the two driver/
disinfectors. laundering is carried out by three members of the
laundry staff, a man and two women. All suitable materials are
ironed before return and it has been found from experience that the
simplest method of transport is by means of a metal container
which can be easily cleansed and disinfected and which is light—
7 lbs. empty and 15 lbs. filled-and easy to carry. These containers
pack simply into the Council's van and they are all numbered for
identification purposes. The cost of these aluminium containers is
£3. 10. Od. each, (size 20 in. x 15 in. x 9 in.)—two are required for
each case.
The establishment of a service of this kind is unquestionably
one of great benefit to the community. Many of these patients
are in the last stages of some serious illness and it is impossible for
relatives to obtain relief from the laundering of clothes and bedclothes
since public laundries will not accept such articles. These
patients are often being nursed and cared for by relatives who have
their hands completely full and the relief given by means of this
laundry service means a great deal to them. There is, of course, an
obvious link with the relief of hospital beds by the taking of cases
which need hospitalisation only in order to deal with incontinency.
In the two years and nine months since the inauguration of the
laundry service the number of cases dealt with per week has shown
a remarkable increase, from an average of 10 cases per week in the
first three months of the service to an average of 42 per week in
the last three months of 1954. There is a steady change of persons
using the service by immigration, deaths, removal to hospital,
discharge from hospital, etc.