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of the building programme will be required to provide enough
places for the increasing number of elderly people who require
residential care. More suitable (including sheltered) housing for
the elderly and extended domiciliary services would help to reduce
this demand. But, even with developments in community services
which at the moment seem beyond the nation's resources, the
demand for residential care is likely to exceed supply for many
years.
The very limited mobility of an increasing number of residents
presents a problem in filling vacancies in homes without lifts.
Lubbock House was provided with a lift during the year but
Durham House and Selwood are without. The Borough Architect
is looking into the structural problems of providing lifts in these
two homes. If suitable schemes can be prepared the installation
of lifts will be included in my proposals for the next three year
capital programme.
There was a reduction in the number of new admissions to
homes compared with the previous year (115 as against 174) but
the percentage of admissions from hospital rose from 36.8% in
1966/67 to 39.1% in 1967/68.
The next highest group of admissions were of persons
living alone, amounting to 45 residents or 25.8%, (the corresponding
figures for 1966/67 were 34 or 29.5%), whilst only 49 or 22%
were living with relatives, (the corresponding figures for 1966/67
were 24 or 20.8%). There is a tendency for admissions from
hospital and from persons living alone to rise in comparison with
those admitted from homes where they were living with relatives.
The pressure on local authority accommodation is so great from
persons living alone or awaiting admission from hospital, that
this trend is likely to continue. This means that support for
relatives caring for the aged must come increasingly from the
domiciliary services and the use of day and short term care. The
average age of new admissions remained at 82 years. An analysis
of the ages of those admitted shows that 101 of the 115 new
admissions were over 75 years of age, and 42 (i.e. over 36%) were
over 85 years of age. This compares with the national figures as
shown in the Ministry of Health Annual Report for 1967, which
indicates that of persons over 65 years of age admitted into residential
accommodation 27.5% were over the age of 85 years.
There were 134 discharges from homes during the year. This
figure does not include those who went into hospital for treatment
and returned to the home subsequently. 73 persons (or 54.5% of
the total) were discharged to hospital and had not returned at 31st
March, 1968. Deaths in homes numbered 48 during the year
(35.8% of all discharges). Only 4 persons returned to their homes
during the year, excluding those admitted for short term only.