[Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, St Albans City & R.D.C.

  • St. Albans (England). City & Rural District Council.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, St Albans City & R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/40 (page 14)
    Home Help Service This service is administered by the Herts County Council and provides domestic help for households where such help is required owing to the presence of any person who is ill, lying-in, an expectant mother, mentally defective, aged, or a child not over school age within the meaning of the Education Act, 1944. The Organiser, who is a member of the Divisional Health Office staff, receives requests from doctors, health visitors, mid¬ wives, hospital almoners and welfare organisations, but these requests must be backed up by a medical or nurse’s certificate. No one is denied help on financial grounds and every case can be assessed according to the family income. The service is proving extremely popular. So much so, in fact, that we are unable to provide all the home help that is desired because we cannot get sufficient numbers of Home Helps. This is particularly difficult in the period Christmas—Easter when, of course, illness is at its height and one must remember that illness affects Home Helps as well as other members of the community. In the St. Albans Division of Hertfordshire County Council, 696 persons availed themselves of this service. Section D HOUSING Rehousing is still the greatest problem confronting the two Councils. Both use a points scheme and in addition, all certifi¬ cates from medical practititioners requesting priority for any of their patients are submitted to me as Medical Officer of Health. I have the power to allocate additional points on medical grounds without disclosing my reason for doing so. In extreme cases I also have the power of giving absolute priority, but this power 1 am very unwilling to use as, of course, if this power were abused it would ruin the whole points scheme, with which I am com¬ pletely in favour. The duty thus imposed on me is a very difficult one, and I have no doubt that on occasions I shall make mistakes, but I can assure both Councils that I shall do my utmost to make their housing scheme work as fairly as is humanly possible, bearing in mind the very large and urgent demand for houses. Points are allotted independently of me for such conditions as overcrowding. I therefore never give points for conditions which already attract points under the Housing points scheme. Surveys have been carried out under the 1954 Housing Rent and Repairs Act, and certain figures have been laid before the Minister during August, 1955. These are set out below.