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the Minister, and to such extent as the Minister may direct make arrangements
for the purposes of the prevention of illness, the care of persons
suffering from illness or mental defectiveness and and the after care of
such persons." But there would appear to be difficulties about these
arrangements being made under these powers. Local Sanitary Authorities
have certain restricted powers under Section 84 of the Public Health Act,
1936; " Where it appears to a local authority upon a certificate of a
Medical Officer of Health or the Sanitary Inspector that any article in
any premises (a) is in so filthy a condition as to warrant its cleansing,
purification or destruction in order to prevent injury or damage to the
health of any persons in the premises, or (b) is verminous . . . the local
authority shall cause that article to be cleansed, purified, disinfected or
destroyed as the case may require at their expense." Anything done
under these powers is limited in scope and cannot be of general application.
Some local authorities have made use of their powers; some provide a
form of laundry service. The Hendon Group Hospital Management
Committee for long had this problem under consideration; they were
prepared to arrange for the actual work of the treating of the articles and
clothing to be done if the Local Sanitary Authorities would meet the
expense. The Council agreed to this within the limit of their powers,
as to the type of case to be helped. Early in 1954 arrangements on these
lines were made, the first case being helped in February. In all 20
persons were helped. The periods of assistance ranged from 1 to
36 weeks. The average cost per week per person was about 3s. A
number of those helped were admitted to hospital; the service was
discontinued then, being resumed on the return home. 11 persons were
being helped at the end of the year. This service can be made available
only to small numbers of persons because of the restricted powers of
the Council. Nevertheless, for those who can be helped in this way,
the assistance is of real benefit to the patients and to those who are
looking after them.
The Blind and Partially Sighted
Under the Blind Persons Act, 1920, the County Council had the
duty of promoting the welfare of blind persons who for this purpose
are persons unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential.
This definition excluded from the benefits of the arrangements made
those who were unable to continue their own occupation, but who had
sufficient eyesight to do some kind of work. This markedly handicapped
children leaving schools for the partially sighted who had to compete
with sighted persons. Under the arrangements of the National Assistance
Act, the partially sighted who are handicapped substantially and
permanently are now eligible for welfare services.
In providing the service the County Council works in close co-operation
with various voluntary organisations for promoting the welfare of
the blind, especially the Middlesex Association for the Blind, the Royal
National Institute for the Blind, the Royal London Association for the
Blind and the National Library for the Blind.
The foundation of the arrangements is the registration of the person
as blind, or partially sighted. Registration is carried out only after the