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homes or elsewhere, (e) for helping them to dispose of the produce of
their work, (f) for providing them with recreational facilities in their own
homes or elsewhere, (g) for compiling and maintaining classified registers
of such persons.
The County Council in the administration of the service for the blind
and the partially sighted have continued to draw on the help of the voluntary
associations who pro\ided these services before 1948.
In regard to the schemes for the handicapped persons other than the
blind and the partially sighted, the first step is for the handicapped person
(who must be substantially handicapped) to register. This he does by
communicating with the Chief Welfare Officer at 1 Queen Anne's Gate
Buildings, Dartmouth Street, S.W. 1. The following are some of the services
available for handicapped persons:— 1. Adaptations to premises
to allow easy entrance and mobility of indoor chairs and housing of
invalid carriages. 2. Adaptations for day to day living (installation of
downstairs lavatories, handrails, etc.). 3. Home tuition in reading,
writing, etc., to homebound adults. 4. Social activities at clubs, choral
and dancing classes. 5. Special aids to enable handicapped persons to
carry out normal activities in house and elsewhere and to assist those
caring for them. 6. Work centres and home work. 7. Advice on domestic
problems. 8. Handicraft classes. 9. Visitors to the homebound disabled.
10. Clothing supplied through voluntary organisations. 11. Reference to
other statutory and voluntary bodies where necessary (National Assistance
Board, Ministry of Labour, etc.).
For the administration of the Welfare Service the County is divided
into the same ten areas as for the County Council's functions under
Part III of the National Health Service Act. Acting under the supervision
of the Chief Welfare Officer for the County there is in each Area a welfare
Officer. The one for this district is Mr. H. G. Plummer, "Kynaston
Court", Boxtree Road, Harrow Weald. The County Council now has
some 2,600 beds, most of them in about fifty old people's homes, in and
around the County; the only one of these homes in this district is that at
79 Bessborough Road. In addition the County Council pays for about
1,100 beds in homes run by voluntary organisations.
Although the Health Department of the District Council is often
approached by those concerned that people apparently not fit to be living
alone are not being helped, a District Council as such has no direct power
or responsibilities in the matter unless circumstances are sufficiently bad
to warrant action under Section 47 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, to
obtain the removal of the person to a welfare home or hospital. This section
can be invoked for the compulsory removal of persons who (a) are
suffering from grave chronic disease or, being aged, infirm or physical y
incapacitated, are living in insanitary conditions and (b) are unable o
devote to themselves and are not receiving from others proper care an
attention.