Services for the disabled : An account of the services provided for the disabled by Government departments, local authorities and voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom.

  • Great Britain. Standing Committee on the Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Disabled Persons.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Services for the disabled : An account of the services provided for the disabled by Government departments, local authorities and voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/126 (page 9)
    The services of the Local Health Authorities (L.H.As.) The National Health Service Acts provide that, for the purposes of the Acts, each County and County Borough (in Scotland Large Burgh) Council shall be the L.H.A. for its own area. The Hospital service and the general practitioner are both in need of the services of auxiliary health workers such as the home nurse, the midwife and the health visitor, with their appropriate resources. It is accordingly provided that it shall be the duty of the L.H.A. to: (a) arrange for the care of expectant and nursing mothers and children under five years of age; (b) arrange for the provision of midwives in the authority’s area; (c) arrange with medical practitioners for vaccination against smallpox, and immunisation against diphtheria; with the Minister’s approval arrangements may be made for vaccination or immunisation against other diseases; (d) provide that ambulances and other means of transport are available for the conveyance of persons suffering from illness; in Scotland ambu- lance services are administered centrally; (e) provide in their area for securing the attendance of nurses on persons who require nursing in their own homes; (f) provide for the visiting of persons in their homes by health visitors, for the purpose of giving advice as to the care of young children, persons suffering from illness, etc. In addition, L.H.As. have a power (but not a duty), with the approval of the Minister, to: (a) make arrangements for the purpose of prevention of illness and for the care and after-care of persons who have been ill; (b) arrange for providing domestic help in households where such help is required. Whilst some of these services are of no direct interest in connection with the rehabilitation of the disabled, others are of the greatest importance. The patient confined to his room may need sick-room equipment, extra bedding, special food and care during convalescence apart from medical attention. Arrangements must be made for the transport to and from hospital, of the sick and injured, for the supervision and training of the mentally handicapped and for the education in parenthood of many adults. Such work, in part preventive, is of great importance to rehabilitation, and there are 62 County Councils and 83 County Borough Councils reinforcing the work of hospitals and family doctors by undertaking such services, aided by Government grants. In Scotland this work is carried out by 31 County Councils and 24 Councils of Large Burghs. The duty of providing a service of home nurses and health visitors, laid down by the Act on L.H.As., had not previously been imposed on any authority. The service relieves both doctors and hospitals by enabling sick persons to be cared for at home, thus reducing the numbers of persons requiring admission to hospitals, and also by relieving the doctor of some