[Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health, Chichester City.

  • Chichester (England). City Council.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health, Chichester City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/40 (page 6)
    INTERNATIONAL GERIATRIC CONFERENCE - THE HAGUE; SEPTEMBER, 1961 I was fortunate to be your joint delegate to the above conference, which v/as attended by medical workers from all parts of the world. Many original papers were presented, with simultaneous translations in English, French and German. These, together with the discussions and tours of inspection, provided a wealth of valuable information, regarding the problems of the social and medical care of elderly persons. Whilst in Holland, I spent several da.ys on an individual inspection of housing schemes for elderly people. The Directors of Housing of both Amsterdam and Rotterdam received me personally and arranged for me to visit examples of their municipal schemes. They very generously provided me with guide-interpreters and drivers. In addition, I was able to visit similar houses built and maintained by other non- profit-making housing organizations, at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem and Leiden. Arrangements were made for me to call on individual English- speaking tenants of each scheme and to discuss with them their ways of life. I was especially impressed by the homes which offered the independence and privacy of self-contained flats, combined with the availability of one cooked meal a day (optionally served in the flat or in a dining-room) and of warden-supervision. Such an unusual combination of independence and security allowed the residents a full social life for longer tVian they could otherwise have expected and there- by reduced the morbidity, physical and mental, which one associates with elderly persons living in isolation. Two hours' home-help service a week was included in the rent-charge of at least one such home, near Leiden; this service prevented or delayed the insidious deterioration in living standards which occurs so frequently as the faculties slow down. A lengthy visit was paid to the Bouwcentrum - the internationally famous Building Centre in Rotterdam. Here, the results of research into all aspects of housing construction is available, in the form of a permanent exhibition, combined with an astonishingly comprehensive and detailed library-service. This exhibition is of absorbing interest to anyone, lay or specialist, who is concerned in any way with housing and the welfare of the occupants. The helpfulness and generosity of my Dutch colleagues made this the most valuable and informative visit in my conference experience. STAFF During the year there has been a steady increase in the work of the department, especially that part concerned with housing. At least 5,000 people were personally interviewed at the inquiry-counter of the department during 1961, each of whom had an individual and often complex problem to be discussed. In addition, numerous telephone calls from the public were received daily, also in connection with personal problems. With the constant increase in council dwellings, routine office administration increased also. An early review of the staff establishment of the combined Public Health and Housing department is an urgent necessity if the present efficiency is to be maintained.