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We have tried to foresee how the new geriatric health clinic could provide the
best service for the people in the neighbourhood. It must be clearly understood
at the very outset that the clinic is not there to provide treatment for the elderly
sick. Its function will be to hold consultations with elderly people who come for a
periodic check. The majority of these will be elderly people who can make their
own way to the clinic. The clinic will be run on the lines of an infant welfare
clinic where the persons attend not because they are complaining of any specific
illness but so that the medical officer and health visitor can keep an eye on their
progress; see that the person is getting along satisfactorily; and try to provide for
early detection of deterioration in health. We can also have regard for the social
conditions and family adjustments under which the old people are living.
One important measure is to keep track of the weights of the people so as to
detect any increase or decrease which might be of significance. We can carry
out simple tests for specific defects and general fitness as is done in the school
health service without using any elaborate clinical tests. If a person is found to
need treatment we propose to advise him to obtain the treatment through his
general practitioner or dentist. If then further tests and consultations are necessary
at the hospital, the general practitioner will be able to make appropriate arrangements
and will be aware of what is happening from the outset. It is not proposed to
carry out elaborate detailed technical investigations on patients, because these may
not coincide with those needed by the practitioner or hospital consultant, and
there is no point in initiating procedures which may have to be repeated elsewhere
later.
In the clinic I will discuss the health and medical fitness with the people who
attend and give advice where necessary on such things as diet, clothing, exercises,
activity, social adjustments, family relationships, and kindred matters. It will
happen that appointments will be missed and it may be necessary to get health
visitors to call at houses to see if all is well with the old person. The clinic can
also be used to keep an eye on the satisfactory progress of patients who have been
in hospital or attending the hospital out-patient department and who merely need
follow-up supervision to ensure that there is no deterioration. We may well be
able with experience to correct and prevent the inroads of disease at an early stage,
and so lessen the burden on relatives by keeping the aged person fit and healthy
and if possible at work and helping the productive capacity of the country.
This clinic is the first to receive formal sanction under section 28 of the National
Health Service Act in England, and I am so proud for it to have fallen to Twickenham
to have the first.
NURSING THE AGED
By Miss J. L. Greeno, Area Superintendent of Home Nursing Service
Progress
During the past year much progress has been made in the care of the aged.
Their relatives are becoming more and more aware that the local authority health
services and the help of other organisations are available and ready to assist them
with their day-to-day problems to the utmost of their ability.
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