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The National Assistance Board assists persons who are without
resources to meet their requirements, or whose resources must be supplemented
in order to meet their requirements. It is the duty of the
Local Authority (the County Council) to provide (a) residential accommodation
for persons who by reason of age, infirmity or other circumstances,
are in need of care and attention which is not otherwise available to them;
and (b) temporary accommodation for persons who are in urgent need
thereof, being need arising in circumstances which could not reasonably
have been foreseen, or any other circumstances as the Authority may in
any particular case determine. Persons for whom accommodation is
provided are to pay for it. The Local Authority has power also to
make arrangements for promoting the welfare of persons who are blind,
deaf or dumb, or of other persons who are substantially and permanently
handicapped by illness, injury, or congenital deformity, or such other
disability as may be described by the Minister. The service is administered
locally by the Welfare Department (Area Welfare Officer Mr. H. G.
Plummer, 48, Station Road, Harrow. Tel. No. Harrow 1252).
The County Council maintains some persons in the home of the
Harrow Housing Society, Pinner Hall, Church Lane, Pinner.
The London Council of Social Service provides a welfare service for
elderly people, and has helped in the setting up of local Old People's
Welfare Committees throughout the Metropolitan Police Area. The
activities of these Committees include the appointment of visitors, securing
better housing facilities for the elderly, the organisation of clubs and the
provision of a meals service. The secretary of the Harrow Committee
is Mrs. Gilbert, of 41, Barrow Point Avenue, Pinner. Tel. No. Pinner
5206.
AMBULANCE SERVICE.
Before the war, the Harrow Council's accident and sick removal
ambulance service was provided in association with the fire service, the
ambulances being stationed at the fire station and manned by the fire
service personnel. During the war, the ambulance service for the civilian
population was provided as part of the Civil Defence Ambulance Service.
After the war it continued as an independent organisation. Those
suffering from infectious diseases who needed to be removed to hospital
whether in or outside the district were removed by ambulances stationed
at the Isolation Hospitals.
One of the effects of the National Health Service Act was the transfer
of responsibility for providing an ambulance service from the minor to
the major authorities. The County Council decided to revert to what was
the pre-war position in this district, and run it in association with the
fire service.
Ambulances for the removal of accident cases will be housed in or
adjacent to the Fire Station, Tel. Nos. Harrow, Pinner, Byron, Wordsworth,
Grimsdyke, Underhill 2222; those for sick persons will be placed
as close as possible to main hospitals, including the Isolation Hospitals.