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already been set up—so that action can be extended as and when
this seems desirable. Much work can also be done in the rehabilitation
of elderly persons admitted to hospital. The aim should
surely be to return these patients to their homes with reasonable
celerity in such a condition that they are able to fend for themselves
and cease to become what is very often an intolerable burden on
their relatives. I would also mention the important part which our
Home Helps and Home Nurses are playing. In this connection,
Area No. 2 recently set up a Night Home Help Service. This
Service is designed to provide a Home Help who will sit up with
a seriously ill elderly person, and thus gives relatives who are almost
exhausted, the opportunity of well-earned rest. This Service was
very widely publicised and is already being used extensively.
Care of the Aged.
I have once again been privileged to play a part in the work
of the Southgate Old People's Welfare Committee. As Medical
Officer of Health I cannot speak too highly of the work of this
Committee, which is doing a very great deal to provide amenities
and services which cannot be provided by a statutory authority.
As Medical Officer of Health and Area Medical Officer I endeavour,
in every way possible, to link the statutory services of which I am
in control with the work of the Old People's Welfare Committee.
On the other hand, I am only too sensible that the Old People's
Welfare Committee has been able, in many ways, to assist these
statutory services, by providing those little extras which do so much
to lighten the burdens of old age.
As I write this report, the admirable scheme designed to
provide an Old Persons' Centre in Southgate will already be known.
This marks a truly significant step forward in the fight to deal with
what is an increasingly difficult problem. Although this does not
strictly speaking belong to the Report for 1958, the fact that the
Minister of Health has extended the chiropody provisions will also
be known. This represents another advance in what must now be
regarded as a continuous struggle. Old age, with its many varied
problems, is something a community must accept, something we
should cheerfully accept as a willing obligation. Until this gigantic
problem, for it truly is gigantic, is recognised on a national level,
our Borough will, I am sure, continue to make its own contribution
to the welfare and happiness of old people resident within our
boundaries.
Laboratory Facilities.
Once again we did not have to call upon the Laboratory to any
great extent during 1958, owing to the absence of major outbreaks
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