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WELFARE
OLD PEOPLE
During 1960, 38 cases of old people in need of care and attention were
brought to the notice of the Public Health Department.
These cases are brought to our notice by doctors, neighbours, members of
voluntary organisations, relatives or by statutory officers who have found the
problems too difficult to solve, and who feel that the only likely solution is
compulsory removal of the old person to a place where he or she will have care.
It is then our task to try ways and means of rehabilitating the man or woman
and to find ways of enabling them to live on in their own homes, which they so
much desire to do, or if matters have got so bad that removal is the only answer,
to get their willing acceptance of such a decision. Sometimes when this willingness
has been achieved, the difficulty of obtaining a place in Hospital or Home,
means long delay with conditions deteriorating but this difficulty has become
a little easier in the last year or two.
One case where two elderly sisters living together were degenerating, was
happily solved by an offer of money to place one sister in a nursing home for
a month, giving the younger sister time to renew her strength, and with Home
Help and other assistance to have their home cleaned decorated and a new life
was started for them.
In two cases both old ladies, all help was refused, except that one of them
did accept the Meals on Wheels service, and after many visits and efforts at
persuasion, conditions became so dangerous for them that in each case statutory
removal under the National Assistance Act was necessary. Both had hospital
admissions, and both did well, one returning to the care of her daughter, and
the other being subsequently admitted to a County Home,
Details of the 38 cases are as follows:-
Removed to hospital 12
Removed to Old People's Homes 2
Remained at home:-
(a) meals on wheels and home help provided 6
(b) meals only provided 1
(c) home help only provided 3
(d) home nurse, home help and laundry service
provided 1
(e) holiday obtained 2
(f) commode obtained 1
(g) housing repairs carried out and/or cleanliness
improved 1
(h) no help required 5
(i) all help refused 3
Died at home awaiting hospital admission 1
During the year a total of 397 aged persons or aged chronic sick persons
in the Borough received help from the Home Help Service, and the Home Nurses
dealt with 501 old people out of a total of 785 cases.
These figures compare with 333 aged persons receiving help from the Home
Help Service in 1959 and 533 old persons being visited by the Nurses out of a
total of 832 cases.
Information supplied by the County Welfare Officer shows that during the
year 39 old people from the Borough were admitted to Old People's Homes through
the County Welfare Department, including three persons previously brought to
our notice in 1959 and one in 1956.
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