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8
treatment at the Day Treatment Centre, It is therefore
now clear that the success of these Centres must depend
upon a combination of professional and technical officers
working as a unit, although individually under the operational
control of at least three separate Authorities.
The treatment and care of the handicapped aged must be
based upon a three pronged approach, each one playing a
part in the overall problem of the care of the aged. It
is essential that the Welfare Authority should be prepared
in the future to extend to the maximum capacity its
arrangements for close co-operation with the consultant
services and the general practitioners and thus secure
the fullest value from our Home Help, Nursing and Welfare
Officers together with other Local Authority services.
The full development of health services among babies
and children has now become so well established and so
comprehensive, particularly in view of the standard of
universal education of the younger generations, that
there would seem to be little more that we can do that
would not be to some extent superfluous in the overall
picture. What is quite certain is the need to catch up
with the defects and deficiencies that have become apparent
with the growth in size of the older age groups and the
essential need for medical care and supervision, as this
ageing group naturally tend to a high and growing incidence
of defects and metabolic deficiencies. This is a problem
which will face everyone in the future and we have yet to
find the best solution to what is a new problem in the
growing complexities of this industrial and mechanised
environment. It may well be the time, in conjunction with
the re-organisation of London's Health Services, to take
a new look at our health plans for the changed age groupings
in the population and the new health problems that
are arising. It may well be that no longer do the problems
of malnutrition, prematurity, neo-natal diseases and
other enigmasof the new born warrant the large expenditure
of time and effort that are often lavished upon comparative
rarities. We should utilise our resources in medical
knowledge and experience much more upon the growing and
burdensome problems of the old. To keep the ageing fit
and active is good medicine, is humanitarian, and probably
good economics.
It is hoped that you will find many matters of interest
and a good deal of material for thought in the pages of
this Report. You may rest assured that your staff, as a