[Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.

  • Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1956
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Home care for persons resident in their areas. The care provided by Local Health Authorities in this connection has become known as “recuperative” convalescence to differentiate it from that pro¬ vided by the Regional Hospital Boards, which involves a continua¬ tion of the patients’ treatment. Both forms of convalescent treat¬ ment can be described as forming part of the National Health Service. The dividing line between these two kinds of care is usually taken to be whether or not the patient requires any treatment, if so the Hospital Management Committee pays for the cost and if not the Local Health Authority is responsible. This division of patients is not always easy to make and many cases have to be decided on their merits—for example a diabetic is not generally barred from receiving recuperative convalescence merely because he has to inject himself with insulin; similarly patients who regularly take medicines or tablets for which they can be responsible are generally accepted as proper charges to the Local Health Authority. The conditions under which Local Health Authorities authorise recuperative convalescence naturally vary. In many but not all cases the patient is assessed according to his ability to pay for Convalescent Home charges, and in some instances the rail fare as well. It should also be said that some Authorities as a matter of policy wiU only accept recommendations in regard' to convales¬ cent care from a Hospital Consultant—though in practice this may be a recommendation from a more junior Hospital Medical Officer, or from an Almoner. Other Authorities, Smethwick included, accept the general practitioner’s recommendation. The actual clerical work involved in these arrangements is carried out by the Public Health Department concerned, or by the Hospital acting on behalf of the Local Health Authority. It is understood that the Local Authority Associations have been reluctant to suggest any uniform practice for the guidance of Local Authorities in these matters though there may well be a case for a degree of standardization of the financial arrangements involved. Clearly, however, the adoption of any such standardized code of practice would involve widespread amendment to Section 28 Schemes. Since the “Appointed Day” the demands on the Local Health Authorities for recuperative convalescence have increased steadily and this new financial burden has, in fact, been the subject of some comment. Although no comparative statistics are readily available it is certain that a very substantial proportion of the number of patients who are sent to Convalescent Homes have financial backing from Local Health Authorities. It is probably not the usual practice for Hospital Management Committees and
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