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GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES
Hospitals
The position regarding the availability of hospital beds has
altered very little within the past twelve months. On numerous
occasions and in various quarters I have stressed the obvious and
urgent need for more geriatric beds to be made available for the
elderly folk of Wood Green. One must admit that the position is
still unsatisfactory, but one can at least say that the matter
has been thoroughly ventilated and that the position has been
very clearly made known to those concerned. One can only hope that
sympathy, which is always expressed, will shortly be translated
into practical help Until that comes about,general practitioners
will still experience the greatest difficulty in getting their
elderly chronic sick into hospital, even when this presents the
only solution to a tragic difficulty. The Council can rest assured
that I will continue to press this point wherever and whenever
possible, until conditions improve Meantime. I feel I must express
my thanks to the hospital authorities who are doing their
very best to cope with an almost insoluble problem.
So far as hospital provision for other types of cases is
concerned-infectious diseases, maternity cases and acute illnesses-the
position is much more satisfactory Coppetts Wood
Hospital, to which cases of infectious diseases occurring in Wood
Green are admitted, is most co-operative So far as I can ascertain
from general practitioners there is seldom, if ever, difficulty
in securing the prompt admission of a case of infectious
disease to hospital if and when this is required
It is still not possible to secure admission to hospital in
the case of all women who would like to be confined in hospital
Staffing difficulties still limit maternity beds to a certain
degree although there has been considerable betterment since the
very difficult days immediately following the war Broadly speaking,
cases are only accepted for Confinement in hospital where a
difficult labour can reasonably be anticipated or where home
conditions are such that it would not be safe,or at least desirable,
for the confinement to take place at home
Primipara, i.e women expecting their first baby, are given
preference over women who have already borne children, for the
obvious reason that first pregnancies are notoriously unpredictable.
Care of the Aged
The problem of the aged continues to increase. The fact that
a special committee has been set up in Wood Green to deal with
problems associated with old age is a sure indication that the
Borough Council is fully alive to the magnitude of this problem
and to the need for very definite action.
It seems now clear that what is required more than anything
else is co-ordination. There are many organisations, many individuals,
in Wood Green, helping old people in very many ways. These
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