View report page

A freer exchange of information is quite obviously required,
together with frank discussions,where the problems 6a both sides
might be thoroughly ventilated.Few would deny that this could do
anything but good.
I must conclude this section by paying apersonal tribute to
the hospitals serving this Area.The broad principles may require
adjustment, but my personal relations with the hospital staffs,
both medical and non-medical, and the co-operation which I invariably
receive have always been most cordial. This, however, is
not enough. So long as the principles are suspect, the machinery
set up to put these principles into operation cannot be expected
to function smoothly.
Care of the Aged
Pew subjects have received more attention within recent years
than the care of the aged. We know that two new words have been
introduced into our vocabulary, geriatrics and gerontology, both
having to do with the process of growing old,and the afflictions
which old age may bring with it.We also know that people s minds
have been increasingly turned, not only to the urgent, often
tragic problems which face an elderly individual but to the
broader picture as it relates to the community and even to the
country as a whole.
I would require an entire document to do justice in any way
to this enormous problem. That is not possible, although I feel
that the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health should
contain detailed reference to an aspect of health which affects
a large and growing section of the community.
Old age comes to many people in many ways.Some are relatively
unaffected,retaining both their mental and physical powers until
an advanced age, and remaining in the care of relatives or sym
pathetic friends. Others are affected by old age at a relatively
early period, and may require medical and nursing care either in
the home or in a hospital or institution.To some elderly patients
money is no object, others are wholly dependent on national
assistance. Some elderly persons prefer to eat out, where they
can be assured of company: others are confined to their houses
or to one room, and welcome the meals provided by the Meals-onWheels
service.
These various examples are given, merely to show the divers
factors which go to make up the quite gigantic problem contained
within the two words " old age".
No one would be so stupid or so churlish as to deny that
much has been done in Wood Green for elderly persons. Apart from
the help provided by such statutory bodies as the Borough Council,
the Middlesex County Council through the Area Medical officer and
the Area Welfare Officer, and the National Assistance Board, the
help furnished by voluntary organisations,churches and by charitable
individuals is much too generous and wide-spread to mention
in detail.
This is all very well, but it is by no means enough. It has
long been obvious that the problem must be studied as a whole,
not as an aggregation of individual units. In this way and in
this way alone can we be reasonably certain that all aspects of
the problem are receiving attention, that energy is not being
uselessly expended, that there is no duplication and re-duplication
that gaps are not being left unclosed.
I have no doubt that, when the problem has been fully
assessed, we will be able to integrate the various activities
already being carried out, directing effort intothemost effective
11