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Apart from the admission to hospital of old persons who are
sufficiently infirm to require a hospital bed or who are extremelyfeeble,
there is the other problem, the problem which concerns
the admission to a home or institution of an old person who is not
necessarily bedridden. It will be appreciated that this problem is
not one over which the Borough Council has direct control. The
matter of homes for the aged is one which comes under the super'
vision of the County Welfare Department. As Area Medical
Officer, I keep in very close touch with the Area Welfare Officer,
bringing deserving, very often deperate, cases to his notice.
Unfortunately, the number of places available in homes or even
institutions is merely a fraction of that required to meet the needs
of a county such as Middlesex. We are, therefore, left with many
old persons who should be looked after in a home or in an institution
but who remain in their own homes, with a minimum of attention.
The lot of these unfortunate old people can indeed be tragic.
More often than not, they are dependent for their meals on the
W.V.S. or on the kindly help of neighbours. They receive few, if
any visitors; their relatives have either forgotten them or are dead.
Some manage to struggle along to an Old People's Club; others
are not able to get to a Club, even with the help of the wagon
which the youth of Southgate so generously presented to the Old
People's Welfare Co-ordinating Committee. Need it be said that
the physical condition of these old people is very often such that
neither their homes nor their persons could be described as
hygienic. This, of course, is very often no fault of the old person
concerned, but merely an indication of the quite intolerable social
conditions which dominate and direct their lives.
The Public Health Department plays its part, in conjunction
with the Area Health Office, in trying to arrange for the admission
of the most deserving old folk to a home or institution, when this
is the only course available. The co-operation between the two
departments is close and has certainly resulted in easing the burden
of quite a number of old people. We are only too conscious of
our limitations but we can, at least, take up the cudgels on behalf
of every old person whose needs are brought to our notice. This
we invariably do. The problem is increasing, rapidly increasing.
This is a fact which must be faced, and faced with the utmost
determination.
Care of the Aged.
It would be a truism to say that care of the aged now has an
established place in the public health programme of the Borough.
More and more is being done to help those who have reached the
eventide of life and who, through no fault of their own, are
dependent on others, very often strangers or mere acquaintances,
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