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(14) Nurses Act, 1943 (Part 2). Nurses' Agencies.
The Essex County Council, on application by the Ilford Council,
delegated to them, in pursuance of Section 11 (1) the powers conferred
upon the County Council by Part II of the Act, subject to
certain conditions.
During 1949 a licence was granted to one Nurses' Agency in
Ilford; such licence expires on the 31st December, 1950.
Agencies are inspected before the issue of a licence, and thereafter
at intervals of not more than once a quarter.
The Medical Officer of Health and his deputy are authorised
under Part 2, Section 9 (2) to enter and inspect any such licensed
premises in the Borough.
(15) National Assistance Act, 1948.—(a) Section 47 provides for the
removal of persons to hospital who are unable to devote to themselves
proper care and attention. Two persons were dealt with
under this Act during the year. They were two aged women of
80 years. One was blind, the other of weakened mental powers.
The rooms occupied were insanitary and the occupants unable to
maintain them in a state of cleanliness. An order for the compulsory
removal of the persons was obtained from a Justice of the
Peace and removal became effective two days later.
(b) Section 50 requires a Local Authority to arrange for the burial
or cremation of a person who has died or been found dead, and
where it appears to the Local Authority no suitable arrangements
are being made for the disposal of the body.
Provision is made in the Act for recovery from the estate of the deceased
person, or any person who for the purposes of this Act was liable to maintain
the deceased immediately before his death, of the whole or part of the
expenses incurred.
On the 1st March, 1949, the Ministry of Health issued a circular
(No. 13/49), dealing more particularly with persons dying in hospital. The
circular asks Hospital Committees and Boards to exercise their power to
arrange burial where—
(a) deceased patients' relatives cannot be traced;
(b) those whose relatives are traceable but were not, immediately
before the patient's death, liable for his maintenance under Section 42 (1)
of the National Assistance Act and are not willing to arrange for the
burial; and
(c) those whose relatives are unable, to obtain a death grant under
the National Insurance Act, 1946, and cannot otherwise afford to arrange
for burial.
Where a " liable " relative fails to carry out his responsibility, Hospital
Committees and Boards are advised to refer the matter to the Local Authority
upon whom the duty rests under Section 50 of the Act, in view of the powers
of recovery from the liable relative.
Similarly, in the area of a County Council, the duty of burial or
cremation rests with the County Council where the deceased person had
been provided with accommodation under Part III of the Act.
The burial of five deceased persons were dealt with up to the end
of the year. They were: —
(1) A male, 69 years, who died in King George Hospital, lived in
lodgings.
(2) A male, 59 years, lived in lodgings.
(3) A female, 62 years, lived in one furnished room.
(4) A male, 85 years, lived in one room.
(5) A female, 73 years, lived in one room.