View report page

57
Some of the old people who are seen do not consider that they are in need
of help and resent what they think is unwarranted interference from outside.
In such cases those that are definitely in need of care and attention may have
to be dealt with under the National Assistance Act.
In practice action is delayed as long as possible to see if the old person
can be made to recognise his or her need and so consent voluntarily to go into
a suitable home.
A difficult case is the old person who is ambulant but can only look after
him or herself to some extent. The home help service and the old peoples
welfare organisation can assist here, provided they are allowed to do so. Some
old people, however, remain stubbornly independent refusing all offers of help,
preferring to live alone surrounded in their one room by masses of valued but
valueless rubbish. One is reluctant to uproot these old people or clear out
the rubbish providing it is not filthy or verminous. Experience in the borough
and elsewhere has shown that precipitate action tends to cause distress and
even accelerate the death of the old person. In dealing with the problems of
old age, supervision by the Health Department is maintained as unobtrusively as
possible.
Provision of Laundry Facilities for Old Persons
It has been apparent for some time that one of the great problems in looking
after bedridden aged persons in their home is the laundering of soiled bedlinen
and other articles particularly of the incontinent cases. Generally the
home help service has endeavoured to deal with this as it arises but often the
situation can not be adequately dealt with in the cramped accommodation in
which so many old people are living.
At the end of the year a scheme was drawn up in conjunction with the
Tottenham Hospital Management Committee for a service to deal more efficiently
with this problem in the laundry at St. Ann's General Hospital, Tottenham. The
service which is limited to satisfy the requirements of Section 84 of the
Public Health Act, 1936, provides for collection of soiled linen twice a week.
The clean laundry is returned when the next soiled bundle is collected.
Old People's Welfare
The following brief summary of the work of the Old People's Welfare
Committee has been abstracted from the annual report of the Chairman of the
Committee, The Lady Morrison,
The year has been a very busy one for the Committee and has seen the opening
of their fourth Old People's Club, In addition to annual efforts to raise
funds, many Coronation events have been organised. As more and more old