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13
Noise nuisance
The Borough Council deals with noise nuisances under the Noise Abatement Act, 1960, which
repealed the noise nuisance sections of the Middlesex County Council Act, 1944. It provides that noise and
vibration which are nuisances are offences under the Act. It is no longer necessary for a doctor to have to
decide whether there is danger or injury to health.
Public Health Inspectors have made day and night observations to determine whether complaints
of noise nuisance were justified or not. Thirty-eight complaints were received during the year, of which 9
were repeated complaints and 21 did not constitute a nuisance within the meaning of the Act. Five of eight
complaints found to be a nuisance were remedied after consultation with the firms concerned but the other
three were still being dealt with at the end of the year. The Council authorised the employment of a noise
consultant to advise on a difficult case of noise and vibration from machinery.
The noises objected to by complainants were wide and varied and included those from a public chiming
clock, ice-cream vendors' chimes, factory processes, shunting of coal wagons, power sewing machine in a
domestic dwelling, unloading of milk churns, coin-operated laundry, loudspeakers, and inconsiderate neighbours.
CARE OF THE AGED
The proportion of old people in the community is increasing and it becomes more urgent and necessary
for the medical and welfare services to be extended to care adequately for them.
The majority of old people are living alone, but they can manage to look after themselves in spite
of deficiencies in money, suitable living accommodation and general amenities. Some require help to keep
them comfortable and happy in their own homes while a small minority cannot be adequately cared for except
in a hospital or old people's home. The local health authority provides home nurses, home helps and health
visitors who investigate the needs of old people and arrange for the necessary services to be given.
OLD PEOPLE'S CLINIC
An experimental old people's clinic was opened at Pound Lane Clinic in February, 1961. It was
transferred to Neasden Clinic in June, 1961, and was held at the same time as a chiropody clinic. The clinic
was established to give advice to the elderly on physical and mental health. It can now be said to have
passed the experimental stage and become firmly established. Knowledge built up over two to three years
of experience is being used with increasing effectiveness in improving the health and well-being of those who
attend.
49 sessions were held throughout 1963. Total attendances were 184, and 51 of the patients were
new. A large variety of problems was dealt with, the social ones being at least as common as the medical.
Sad to say, there is a kind of quiet despair which is common among the old, tending to lead to withdrawal
from life and submission to disability. The clinic tries to overcome this by means of advice and gentle
encouragement. Often they are referred to other agencies, which otherwise they might never have approached.
Financial problems have been solved; illness has been cured or at least made more bearable and many have
found new opportunities for social life and fresh interests. Friendly co-operation has been maintained with
family doctors and numerous statutory and voluntary bodies.
The most significant advance during the year was in the field of nutrition. Chronic undernourishment
is unfortunately common among the elderly, among whom poverty and apathy are liable to result in
poor and ill-chosen diets. There has been a long-felt need for a complete food supplement, such as Complan,
which requires the minimum of preparation and is easy to take. Application was made to have it supplied
at the clinic at reduced price, like welfare foods for mothers and children, but this was refused. Eventually
it was decided to adopt a scheme used in Wembley, and the Complan was bought by the Willesden Borough
Health Department, and sold in clubs and at the clinic at a fraction above cost price. This has proved
very popular and demand has tripled over a period of three months.
Hospital treatment
Generally speaking, it is now easier to obtain admission for an aged patient, and the geriatric
physician and his almoner work in close co-operation with the local health and district authorities. However,
there is still a great need for more hospital accommodation. Compulsory powers for removing old people
to a hospital or hostel are only used when absolutely necessary, and then only after all other possibilities have
been fully explored.
The provisions of the National Assistance Act, 1948, and the National Assistance (Amendment) Act,
1951, were outlined in previous annual reports. Ten cases were investigated during the year, and although
they all required further action it was not necessary to use compulsion. Three agreed to be removed to hospital
voluntarily; two agreed to go into welfare homes: and 5 were made comfortable in their own homes by
the provision of additional services, such as home help, home nurse, meals on wheels.
Laundry service for the aged
The care of incontinent old people places a heavy burden on their relatives. The washing of soiled
bed linen and night clothes, particularly in cramped accommodation in winter, with inadequate facilities for
drying, adds another intolerable strain on relatives which finally convinces them that the only place where
the old people can receive reasonable care is in an institution. One way of postponing this is to do their
laundry.