View report page

34
The Aged
At the time of the 1951 census, out of a local population of 217,700
there were 7,290 men over sixty-five years of age, 11,926 women over
sixty-five and 17,348 women over sixty. Fortunately the vast majority of
all these are in no need of help of any sort. A small proportion of them are
in need of care and attention. Those needing just simply care and attention
and not medical or nursing care and attention, are the responsibility of
the Welfare Department of the County Council who find them accommodation
in one of the County Council's welfare homes.
Those in need of medical or nursing care and attention are the
responsibility of the hospital service. Most from this district who need to
be admitted to hospitals are dealt with by the staff of the Edgware General
Hospital where there is a Geriatric Officer, Dr. F. A. Binks, whose prime
concern is for these people. He has beds at the parent hospital and also
at a number of other establishments, including in this district Roxbourne
Hospital, Stanmore Cottage Hospital and Orme Lodge. The procedure
for obtaining admission is that the patient's own doctor makes direct
approach to the Geriatric Officer. The number of beds available is far
short of what is needed. To make the best use of what is available different
methods have been tried out, one being that a patient is admitted to
hospital for a period of six weeks, returning home for a similar length of
time. To give the relatives a rest from a very onerous burden, patients
can be accepted at the hospitals for periods of two or three weeks.
Enforced Removal. Sometimes the person in need of care and
attention should really be in an institution or hospital but declines to go
there. In certain circumstances the District Council can act under the
provisions of Section 47 of the National Assistance Act 1948 which
refers to the removal to suitable premises of persons who (a) are suffering
from grave chronic disease or being aged, infirm or physically incapacitated
are living in insanitary conditions, and (b) are unable to devote
to themselves and are not receiving from others proper care and attention.
The procedure under Section 47 was that if the Medical Officer of
Health could certify to the local authority that he was satisfied that in the
interests of such person or for preventing injury to the health or serious
nuisance of other persons, it was necessary to remove him from the
premises in which he was residing, the local authority could apply to a
court of summary jurisdiction for an order. The machinery, involving as
it did serving of a 7-days notice on the person managing the premises to
which it was intended to remove the person, proved cumbersome. in
1951 an Amending Act was passed which aimed at dealing with cases
more expeditiously. Under this the Authority can give a general authority
to the Medical Officer of Health to make application for an order for
removal. This authority was in fact given by the Public Health Committee
at their meeting on the 6th January, 1959 when they resolved" that the
Medical Officer of Health be hereby authorised to make application for
an Order pursuant to Section 47 of the National Assistance Act, 1948 as
amended by the Act of 1951 authorising the removal to suitable premises
of persons in need of care and attention in all cases where he considers
this necessary and desirable." The procedure now is that if the Medical
Officer of Health and another registered medical practitioner certify it is