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53
The service is provided on the recommendation of the family doctor and
the amount of service is assessed on need and availability of home helps
by the Home Help Supervisor. A charge is made based on the cost
of the service, but is reduced according to the recipient's means, where
necessary.
The establishment of the equivalent of 60 full time home helps
has never been reached, and at 31st December 1970 there were 74 home
helps, equivalent to 36 full time staff. During the year 97 applicants
were interviewed; 39 of these were not considered suitable or found
other employment. There is a potential reservoir of married women who
are interested in doing this type of work but cannot make arrangements
for their school children to be cared for during the school holidays.
These recruitment difficulties have resulted in heavy pressure on
existing staff which has in some instances proved inadequate to meet
the demands on the service.
Despite these difficulties a total of 65,207 hours of service
were devoted to the care of the sick and elderly in the borough.