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When patients are discharged from the Centre it is our aim to ensure, as far as
possible, that they return to an environment which offers them more support than it
did before their admission.
In this respect many of the services supplied or sponsored by the Borough Council
are of the greatest value. The Meals-on-Wheels service, for example, and the Home
Help Service are often essential elements in preventing the deterioration which might
otherwise follow discharge from the Centre. There is still a shortage of visitors to
visit discharged patients in their homes and to report back on those who appear to
be in need of further treatment. Some form of follow-up centre would appear to be
necessary and it is hoped that progress towards this can be made in the coming year.
The members of the Committee of the Ealing Day Treatment Centre Association
for 1964 were:—
Councillor R. R. Clay (Chairman)
Councillor J. T. Bartlett (Vice-Chairman)
Alderman Mrs. D. Gundry, J.P.
Councillor J. F. Barlow
Councillor E. R. Bennett
Councillor Mrs. D. I. Williams
Dr. Barbara Bailey
Dr. C. A. Osborn
Dr. F. H. Scoones
Mrs. D. M. Collins—British Red Cross Society
Vacancy—St. John Ambulance Brigade
Miss E. Tippetts—Women's Voluntary Service
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT, 1948
Section 47
This section provides powers for the compulsory removal to hospital or other
place of persons who:—
(a) are suffering from grave chronic disease or, being aged, infirm or physically
incapacitated are living in insanitary conditions, and
(b) are unable to devote to themselves, and are not receiving from other persons,
proper care and attention.
Once again it was not necessary to take action under this section during the past
year. Many old people were visited following reports received from General Practitioners,
Home Helps, Health Visitors, etc. Where an old person is unwilling to enter
a hospital or home voluntarily it has often been found possible to give sufficient
support through the good offices of the Home Help Section, the Meals-on-Wheels
service and the Home Nursing service. This enables the person's home to be brought
up to a reasonably satisfactory state of hygiene and comfort.
Many of the old people visited would undoubtedly receive more adequate care in
an Old Person's Home, but one is naturally reluctant to use compulsory powers of
removal in any but extreme cases. A great deal, however, can be done by persuasion
and explanation.
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