View report page

SECTION 29: DOMESTIC HELP.
No change took; place in the organisation or administration of the service during
the year.
While the number of new applications and the total number of cases receiving the
home help service showed no increase during the year, there were more cases on the books
at the end of the year than there were at the beginning. This arises from the fact that
new cases needing help still outnumber the old cases no longer requiring it. The numbers
on the books give a better indication of the true load on the service and in this sense
the demand is still maintaining the upward trend which it has shown from the beginning.
The increase in demand was most marked in the elderly age groups. Of the total
number receiving the service during the year, 82 per cent. were over the age of 60 and
23 per cent. over the age of 80. Faced with an ageing population, with a tendency for the
younger people to move outside the Borough, and with a growing emphasis on the support of
infirm old folk in their own homes rather than their admission to hospital, this trend is
likely to become even more pronounced in future years. The home helps are largely serving
the purpose of preserving the dignity and independence of old age.
Corresponding to this increase in the proportion of old folk receiving the service,
the number of free cases has also risen.
Attention was drawn in my previous report to the decrease in the number of
applications from maternity cases. This was viewed with regret, in face of the benefits
to the health of both mother and baby which may follow a relief from domestic cares during
those difficult early days when a secure relationship should be growing up between them.
Although there has been a slight increase this year, the amount of home help provided for
confinements remains disturbingly small. It would seem that the maternity benefit and home
confinement grants still do not go far enough to provide for adequate home help on top of
all the other expenses.
A fall in the number of applications received in respect of tuberculous patients
occurred during the year and in this connection it is noted that 67 per cent. of these cases
were over 50 years of age.