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33
Maternity Hospitals
As already mentioned, under the new maternity catchment areas,
expectant mothers from this district who wish to be confined in hospital
and who manage to book a bed—this is apart from those who are
admitted because of some medical or social reason—are dealt with at
the Edgware General or Kingsbury Maternity Hospitals. Roughly
speaking, eastern, northern, central and western districts of the Borough
attend Edgware General whilst south and south-western districts attend
Kingsbury.
Geriatric Hospitals
Edgware General Hospital and Roxbourne Hospital, together with
certain small annexes provide about 267 beds to meet the needs of the
area as regards geriatric beds. Demands on these beds are always heavy
and as a result many cases which should be in hospital have to be coped
with at home, sometimes under very trying circumstances.
(E) NURSING HOMES
These are private establishments which provide accommodation for
various types of patients. Section 187 of the Public Health Act, 1936,
requires that these homes shall be registered with the local health
authority. The County Council decided that the responsibility for
registering and supervising them should rest not with the local Area
Committee, but with the Health Committee of the County Council.
Applications for registration have to be made to the Clerk of the County
Council. Up to 1962 the responsibility of the local health authority in
regard to nursing homes has been ill-defined, but this situation has been
improved by the Nursing Homes Act, 1963.
Regulations made under this Act require the managers of nursing
homes to provide accommodation, care and staffing of a satisfactory
standard. As laid down in the regulations, authorities now have powers
to specify in what respect the conduct of a home falls short and what
needs to be done to satisfy the requirements. Failure to comply with
the authority's requirements can lead to proceedings against the
managers in a magistrates court. The regulations are wide enough to
ensure that suitable and adequate facilities to meet the requirements of
the differing types of patients are provided in the various nursing homes,
empower an authority to define numbers to be received into a particular
home and also protect private interviews between inspecting officers and
patients, in order to investigate complaints.
The following tables sets out the particulars of the various homes
registered at the end of the year, with details of the ownership and their
accommodation:—