[Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, East Lothian County Council.

  • East Lothian (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1964] / Medical Officer of Health, East Lothian County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    on 1st December. Weekly sessions have been held since that date and these have been very fully attended. The project has the full co-operation and support of the family doctors in the County and is very much appreciated by them and by their patients. Mention has been made in previous Reports of the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation and the Area Welfare Grant Scheme run by this Foundation. It will be remembered that this scheme provides for the assistance in cash or in kind for the benefit of those suffering from cancer, the local administration of the scheme being carried out through the Health Department. During the year tire Foundation also introduced its Day and Night Nursing Service for the benefit of cancer patients. Under this scheme persons with some nursing experience are recruited locally on a part-time basis and on the request of a family doctor are sent to assist with the care of cancer patients being nursed at home. All expenses of the scheme are borne by the Foundation. The demand for this service has, however, been unexpectedly light. The provision of this service is yet another example of the continued interest which is being shown in the welfare of the aged. During the year a number of meetings have been held with representatives of the Scottish Council of Social Service to discuss what provision needs to be made and what provision can lie made. A Social Worker is to be appointed in 1965, and it is hoped that she will be able to devote part of her time to the social and domestic needs of the old people as distinct from their medical and nursing needs. It is felt that the latter type of need is already being met through the existing services. Co-operation with the W.V.S. continues and the Meals on Wheels Scheme is very much appreciated by old people living at home. Flans are proceeding for the provision of a new Home for old people in Tranent but it is likely to be some time before this new accommodation is available. For some time the absence of a Speech Therapist for pre- school children has been acutely felt. Many speech defects occur in pre-school life and most of these can be successfully treated if treatment is started sufficiently early and provided, of course, that they do not have an underlying organic basis. With speech therapy, many a pre-school child may start school speak- ing perfectly normally who would otherwise have started school with a speech defect. Such a defect very often gives a child a most unhappy introduction to school life and from every point of