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public mortuary shall be sent to the Hampton
Mortuary maintained by the London Borough
of Richmond-on-Thames. The Council pays a
nominal charge for the use of this mortuary.
Burials
Under Section 50 of the National Assistance Act,
1948, it is the duty of the council to arrange the
burial of any person who has died in the
district, where it appears that there are no
suitable arrangements for the disposal of the
body. During 1967 four burials were arranged
in accordance with this section.
The Welfare Services in Hounslow
The welfare and health departments in this
borough work in very close co-operation and I
am again grateful to Mr D M Fleet DPA DMA
AISW, the Borough's Chief Welfare Officer,
for the following report:—
'Conscious that the wealth of detail reported in
the preceding pages will prove to the reader
how expansive and far sighted has been the
Council's policy for the extension of its health
services, it is with pleasure that I can add a
tailpiece in miniature to show how the welfare
services in the borough have also developed
during 1967.
The Elderly
'The first old people's home planned and built
by the borough council was officially opened by
His Worship the Mayor on 28th October 1967.
This contains accommodation for 53 residents
of both sexes in 12 double rooms and 29 single
rooms. In spite of this additional bed capacity
the waiting list for permanent residential care
remained at a figure of 108 at the end of 1967
as compared with 134 at the start of the year.
During the 12 months there were 161 admissions
to homes whilst 78 persons were provided with
short stay care to enable relatives to have a
much needed rest or holiday. The extension
of day care facilities resulted in 15 people being
accommodated on that basis for 886 days
compared with 480 in 1966, thus continuing
the policy of endeavouring to lessen the need for
permanent care by encouraging relatives to
accept the short term help available.
'A valuable addition to the welfare services
was the first holiday home, Drumconner, Brighton
Road, South Lancing, near Worthing, officially
opened by the chairman of the welfare committee
on the 18th November 1967. The property was
formerly an old people's home owned by a
voluntary organisation and required extensive
adaptations, including a passenger lift to make it
suitable for all groups of the elderly and
handicapped. It provides accommodation for
18 guests on two floors, mainly in single
bedrooms, faces the sea and has its own beach
hut and private strip of beach.
'A second day centre called the Brentford
Senior Citizens Club at Ealing Road, Brentford,
was officially opened by His Worship the
Mayor in November 1967. Membership reached
a total of 150 by the end of the year though
it was rather surprising that the number
participating in the daily luncheon service has
seldom been higher than 40.
'In all, approximately 22,000 meals were
served at day centres during the year.
'The first luncheon club for the elderly opened
at the Public Hall, South Street, Isleworth, in
November 1967. By the end of the year 30
senior citizens were attending regularly five days
each week. This form of welfare provision is
expected to expand as suitable premises are
found in the various districts of the borough. It
became increasingly obvious that the elderly,
generally found difficulty in sparing the money
for bus fares to go any distance to a meals centre,
and thus it is anticipated that eventually there
will be a large number of small luncheon clubs.
Sheltered Accommodation for the Elderly
'As mentioned in last year's report the Housing
Committee had embarked on an expansionist
programme of this type of development. One
new scheme was completed in 1967 located at
Convent Way, Southall, bringing an additional
41 units into the total pool. It is of some
significance that four residents in old people's
homes were considered to be sufficiently mobile
and capable and were transferred to flatlets
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