View report page

A DAY-TREATMENT CENTRE FOR THE ELDERLY
W. G. BOOTH, M.D.LOND, D.P.H.
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, EALING
I. H. SEPPELT, M.A., M.B.CANTAB., D.P.H.
DEPUTY MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, EALING
I. O. TAYLOR, M.A.CANTAB., M.R.C.S., D.P.H.
HONORARY MEDICAL OFFICER, EALING DAY-TREATMENT CENTRE
Among the many services, both statutory and voluntary, for old people in the
borough of Ealing are meals on wheels, chiropody, holidays, work centres, and a
laundry service for the incontinent. In addition the borough, with an area of about
14 square miles and a population of 183,000, is as well served as most with generalpractitioner,
hospital, and welfare services. Nevertheless, experience suggested that
many old people were not gaining full benefit from the services. These were the housebound,
or nearly so, who lived alone or with relatives out at work during the day.
The home-help service knew of many who had not been outside the house for
months or years.
Loneliness was the chief disability of many old people. Physical disability might
be severe or (equally often) relatively mild. Some patients might not be under the
care of a practitioner because they had no acute symptoms, or because increasing
disability had been accepted as the inevitable accompaniment of age. Others might
be on the long waiting-list for a place in a county council old-persons home.
How best could such patients be helped? Clearly, some new project was required,
and we thought that a day centre for the elderly provided by the local authority for
the use of general practitioners might offer a solution.
The Formation of the Centre
The Ealing Borough Council, having no powers to deal with the matter directly,
decided to support the formation of a voluntary organisation to administer a pilot
scheme. This was to cater for up to 20 old people at a time. The Ealing Day Treatment
Centre Association, representing various organisations concerned with the care of
old people in the borough, was formed for this purpose. The Council itself was
strongly represented and the remainder of the committee represented the borough's
general practitioners, the British Red Cross Society, the Women's Voluntary Services,
and St. John Ambulance Brigade. In addition, the medical officer of health and two
of his medical staff, the town clerk, and the borough treasurer acted as honorary
advisers to the association in their various professional capacities. It was envisaged
from the start that much of the cost would have to be met by the borough council
by means of a grant to the Association under Section 136 of the Local Government
Act, 1948. Nevertheless, it was hoped that a fairly large proportion would be provided
by charitable trusts interested in the welfare of the old. In the event, this did not
materialise. The Association was, however, fortunate in obtaining considerable help
from local industrial firms.
This included the loan on a five-year lease of a very suitable prefabricated building
by Taylor Woodrow, and the provision of electrical installations by Honeywell Controls,
and of baths by the British Bath Co. A grant of £500 for equipping the centre
was made by Glaxo Laboratories. The site was given to the Association by the
40