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56
WASH-HOUSES:
2/9d per machine plus Id. per½ hour for use of dryers, irons, mangles,
etc. (For the average person the total charge is about 3/3d the entire
process of washing, drying and ironing taking about 3 hours).
Care of the Aged
Throughout the period under review the department has continued to deal
with problems of the aged sick and infirm The co-operation of the various
statutory and voluntary bodies concerned with this problem has been readily
forthcoming so that the lot of many of the aged and infirm has been to some
extent alleviated. It has not always been possible to do all that one would
like owing to pressure on hospital and hostel accommodation and sometimes
even to the unwillingness of the individual concerned to accept assistance.
So much has been said since the war concerning the ageing population
that one tends to think that it is only in the last decade that the problem
has been recognised. It was, therefore, interesting to read what was
written by one of my predecessors, Br, Butler-Hogan in his Annual Report for
190 3. He was commenting on the birth-rate and wrote as follows, 'The
continued decline in the birth-rate (it was then 29.5 and is now 12.37) is as
subject for serious consideration mA lower birth rate continued for
a series of years means an older population.'
Provision of Laundry facilities for old people
As intimated in my last report, with the co-operation of the Tottenham
Group Hospital Management Committee, a laundry service has been established
to deal with bed linen and other articles soiled by bedridden incontinent
aged persons. The efficient working of the service is due to the excellent
assistance received from all concerned, notably the home helps, who carry out
preliminary cleansing of articles before their despatch to the laundry.
The scheme provides for all soiled articles to be steeped in a disinfectant,
any faecal matter having first been sluiced off. Twice a week the
laundry is collected in laundry nets by the Public Health Department's
disinfecting van, the articles are listed, and a copy of the list is given to
the householder. The nets are identified by means of numbered laundry pins
and placed in bins carried in the van, the bins being cleansed and disinfected
after use. At the Town Hall the articles are examined by the sanitary
inspector and a certificate at the foot of each list is completed in
accordance with Section 84 of the Public Health Act, 1936. The laundry is
then taken to St. Ann's Hospital Laundry where after a cold rinse it is
boiled for 15 minutes and then laundered. The clean laundry is returned 3
days later.
The service came into operation in April 1954, and 211 collections were
made during the remainder of the year.