[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Lancashire County Council.

  • Lancashire (England). County Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Lancashire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    96/196 (page 92)
    WELFARE SERVICES WELFARE OF THE ELDERLY Section 21 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, requires local welfare authorities to provide residential accommodation for those who are in need of care and attention which is not otherwise available to them. This obligation has been made the basis of a large and growing variety of services about which some details are given below. During the year under review policy continued to be guided by desire to diversify services as far as is practicable, so as to be able to meet individual needs rather than force the applicant to accept a rigid and preconceived “solution” to his difficulties. Residential Homes.—The demand for residential accommodation continued unabated during 1971 and although the total amount of accommodation available by the 31st December, 1971, had increased substantially (there were 4,268 persons accommodated in County Council homes compared with 4,034 twelve months earlier), the rate of progress was not sufficient to make any reduction in the waiting list, which rose from 1,605 to 1,756. Tables 28 and 30, pages 167 and 171, give details of persons accommodated in County Council homes, etc., during 1971. Similar information in respect of County residents in premises managed by other local authorities and by voluntary organisations is given in Tables 29, 31 and 32. The following new homes were brought into use during 1971:— Healey View, Chorley Peel Court, Oswaldtwistle Pendle Brook House, Barrowford Rimrose, Litherland Greenacres, Standish Crossford, Stretford Healey View and Crossford each have accommodation for 52 residents; Pendle Brook House and Rimrose are 32 place homes, and Greenacres and Peel Court have 33 places. Each home has separate housing accommodation for the warden and deputy warden. During the year the construction of a further seven homes commenced at Ramsbottom, Fence, Poulton-le-Fylde, Widnes, Royton, Accrington and Longton. The homes at Ramsbottom, Widnes, Royton, Accrington and Longton will each provide 52 places, whilst the Poulton home will have 33 places and the Fence home 16 places. The Health Services and Public Health Act, 1968.—Section 44(1) of this Act enables local welfare authorities to extend their schemes under which local authorities provide residential accommodation with other local authorities and with voluntary organisations. Amended schemes may cover in addition, arrangements with privately-owned registered homes which are run for profit. The County Council are not obliged to seek an amendment to their scheme and the Minister indicated when the Act came into effect that he did not intend for the present to issue any recommend¬ ation. The County Council decided to defer taking action in this matter. Day Care Service.—In expanding this service the County Council accepted the principle of setting up day care services gradually at existing residential homes wherever room is available and the new¬ comers can be accommodated without the need for substantial capital expenditure. The largest single difficulty in the way of expanding the service was found to be transport and to relieve the ambulance service, extensive use was made of taxis on a contract basis. At the 31st December, 1971, 73 schemes were in operation with a total daily average attendance of approximately 234. The selection of the old people is by reference to their need for care or their relatives’ need for relief, so that in the main they are people whose names are already on the waiting list for admission to a welfare home. Applicants requiring specialised care more appropriately supplied by the hospital service are not eligible. Old people generally attend on two or three days a week and the usual amenities of the home are available. A mid-day meal and afternoon tea are provided. The charge for the service is 15p per day. Transport, where required, is free. Short Stay Scheme.—Quite frequently old people are admitted to residential homes on a temporary basis, sometimes to help them over a short period of difficulty and sometimes to allow them some experience of life in welfare accommodation before they finally decide whether to give up their homes. In addition to these informal arrangements, however, 20 places at The Empress, Morecambe, and 10 at The Cumberland, Fleetwood, are used for short-stay accommodation. Those admitted (generally for a fortnight) are people deemed to be in need of care (a) to restore their capacity for independent living, (b) to allow relatives a respite, (c) during the temporary absence of those who normally look after them, or (d) during their absence from an old people’s home to facilitate redecoration or main¬ tenance work.