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In the Region IN THE REGIONNewton "Age Concern" - Fears for FutureVoluntary workers in Newton-le-Willows have been warned that old people's services - such as meals-on-wheels - could start to contract unless they take urgent action. At a recent meeting held in Earlestown Town Hall members of Newton Age Concern heard that their pleas for grant aid on a similar level to that provided at present could fall on deaf ears when local goverment re-organisation comes in next year. At present the voluntary organisation is aided by grants from Lancashire County Council. Under the new structure, Newton becomes part of St. Helens District Council and the source of grant aid would probably then be that council's Social Services Committee. Although members felt that Newton Age Concern should preserve its identity, and were fearful that the group would be 'pushed about by an authority which had never had an old peoples welfare committee', they were urged to join a new welfare committee in St. Helens by Mr. Keith Macklin, advisory officer for Age Concern. He pointed out that as part of a district committee representing 23,000 old people, the local group, serving 3,700, would be in a much more powerful position. It was hoped that each area like Newton would be represented by one person as there would not be proportional representation based on population. He felt that if Age Concern agreed to participate in the affairs of a St. Helens old people's committee, then they could meet the challenge. Alone, they would have no right of appeal on grant aid - the decisions would be with the Social Services Committee, and if they did not provide a grant there would be contraction in the services offered by the group, such as meals-on-wheels.PCMinibus FundTo beat the rising cost of transport, Millhouse School for mentally handicapped children in Newton-le-Willows have launched a fund to buy a minibus, with a target of £1,500. In less than seven days the fund reached £126. Most of this came in a donation from members of Haydock Park Golf Club, who gave £100 after a recent charity golf competition. Headmaster Mr. Ron Heavey said, "The people of Newton have given us a magnificent start to our appeal, and we hope contributions will continue to arrive at the same rate."PCHousing for Elderly and InfirmWork is due to start next week on the building of 41 council homes at Stockton Heath, near Warrington. The homes, at Ackers Lane, will include three-bedroomed houses, about 18 flats for elderly people, and two bungalows for handicapped people. A spokesman for Runcorn Rural Council, who are building the homes, said the site had formerly been used for pre-fab housing. Tenants from the pre-fabs had already been rehoused, and the new homes would be used to ease the housing register, and allow some elderly people to move from houses to flats if they wished.PC**************ROUND THE N.H.S.More 1974 JobsThe new Mersey Regional Health Authority recently announced the 15 members to make up St. Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority. Members will probably meet in the next few weeks to make arrangements to appoint chief officers, who could start advance planning for the area in readiness for next April. It is thought likely that the authority will go along with suggestions to make Cowley Hill Hospital, St. Helens, the administrative headquarters of the area. A move to create two separate health authorities for both St. Helens and Knowsley district has finally been turned down by Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Social Services. Already the Joint Liaison Committee has drawn up an area profile listing the facilities, services and needs of the area. Mr. Frank Mellor of Bleak Hill Road, Windle, has been appointed as chairman of the new AFA, which includes representatives of both St. Helens and Knowsley District Councils. Mr. Mellor has been associated with the health service since 1959, with an outstanding record of service in Merseyside Hospital Managements. He became Vice-Chairman of the East Liverpool University Hospital Managment Committee in 1960. The two members appointed by St. Helens District Concil are Mrs. E. Kershaw of Newton-le-Willows and Miss M. McNamara of St. Helens. The two members appointed by Knowsley District Council are Mr. J. Lloyd of Warrington Road, Prescot and Mrs. F. Kneale of Dunfold Close, Kirkby.LCC SurveyLancashire County Council plan to spend more than £200,000 on aids for the physically handicapped next year .... four times as much as during 1971-72. Their needs - ranging from extra meals-on-wheels to gardening - are listed in a survey just published by the Social Services Department. A postal questionaire was sent to a sample of 12,127 households in the county in order to assess the county council's responsibilities under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1970. Full interviews were carried out with 1,477 people identified by the postal survey as severely handicapped or at risk. The findings revealed that an estimated 77,900 extra aids and adaptations were necessary, plus 27,500 extra meals-on-wheels. People needing places in sheltered workshops and occupational therapy centres could number 3,500 and approximately 8,200 extra telephones will be needed.LRHB Chairman Opens New Maternity Unit,Sir David Solomon, the chairman of Liverpool Regional Hospital Board, officially opened the super modern £1,000,000 maternity unit at Whiston Hospital on Thursday September 27th 1973. Already 775 babies have been born there since the unit came into operation earlier this year. Replacing the hospital's old unit and the Cowley Hill Maternity Hospital, which has recently closed, the new unit will continue to cater fcr mothers-to-be from the St. Helens area. Work started on the building in February, 1970, when it.was hoped the first patients would be admitted two years later. However, owing to delays in some of the services, it was not until the end of November that the contractors handed over the building to the St. Helena HMC. There are 140 beds in the main wards, and the ground floor of the building contains treatment units which include an ante-natal clinic, central delivery suite, containing two operating theatres and a special care baby unit for premature and seriously-ill babies. A midwifery training school is also included.New H.A.S. DirectorThe new director of the Hospital Advisory Service is Dr. Eluned Woodford-Williams. She is a consultant geriatrician with the Sunderland Hospital Group.PCGeriatric Nursing CourseThe Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies has published an outline curriculum in Geriatric Nursing (Course 296). In order to establish effective courses, the Joint Board wants to be sure that the demands of the nurse can be met. To do this, a small number of approved courses will be evaluated to see whether any modifications to the requirements are necessary.PCTimes Are Getting HarderIn an interview on "Radio Merseyside", Sir David Solomon, Chairman of Liverpool Regional Hospital Board, said that, although more finances were always needed in the health service, in fact the LRHB had done better than average in the allocation of national expenditure. Therefore, he said, the region could expect a slower increase in the amount of money allocated compared with other regions. As for the re-organisation due next April, Sir David said that people would have to understand that unification of the health service would not mean that additional money would then be available. Rather, staff would have to look to the areas of wastefulness which still existed in the service, and concentrate on improving efficiency.PC************AROUND THE HOSPITALSlimming Club DonationWinwick Hospital Slimming Club has sent a donation of £7.00 to the fund in aid of the family of Mr. E. Peacock, who died so tragically whilst on holiday in Spain.New Home WardenMrs. Dorothy M. O'Donnell has been appointed to the post of Home Warden from Monday October lst, 1973. She will take over responsibility for the staff residences (nurses home and doctors residences).PCDeputies' Professional HourMr. H.A. Stokes, Night.Superintendent, was the speaker at the monthly Professional Hour for Deputy Ward Sisters/Charge Nurses held in the In-Service Training. Room on Thursday, 045tober 4th, Mr.Stokes spoke on "Communication between Day and Night Staff". If any Deputy Ward Sister/Charge Nurse would agree to contribute a short account of the monthly Professional Hours, we would be most grateful.PCJoint Consultative Staffs CommitteeThe Eighty-Ninth meeting of the JCC was held in the Boardroom on Thursday September 13th, 1973. The Committee noted that the HMC had accepted the recommendations of the officers' Working Party on Fire Precautions, although one paragraph, dealing with the responsibility for patients' carrying matches, had been amended. The Management Side stated that the HMC still felt that the onus for patients carrying matches rested with the nursing staff. On the matter of toilet facilities for visitors, it was pointed out that there were facilities for visitors on the wards. However, Mr. Woods promised to consider the signposting of toilets in the hospital. A major item on the Agenda was the Implication of National Health Service Re-organisation. Mr. Naylor, Vice-chairman of the HMC, pointed out that management circulated to staff all information received and although quite extensive information had been published it was not always easy to clarify, adding that so long as the present HMC were responsible they would endeavour to safequard the interest of all staff. He also felt that eventually there would be staff involvement. Amongst the other items on the Agenda were the Staff Retirement Fund - it was noted that the Staff Side could commence a scheme if they wished, so long as they accepted full responsibility - the Fences and Gates for Hollins Lane,Houses - still being considered - and the Protective Clothing for Engineers Staff. The Minutes are available on staff notice boards for.staff seeking fuller information.Catering Department NewsNow that the Dining Room and Coffee Room are fully operational again, we would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Engineer's Department for their co-operation and speed during the alterations. Over the style of the decoration there could be differences of opinion, but the standard of workmanship throughout is a credit to our craftsmen. The Coffee Room is open from 9.30 to 5.00, and has a good range of soft drinks, sandwiches and cakes, etc. We look forward to having a carpet down soon, which should further improve the decor. Regarding the increased cost of sandwiches there was a time when our prices were the cheapest for miles around. Recently, however, although the variety and quality remain constant, we have been unable to keep prices down and they are now in line with everybody else's.. The idea has been put forward, for some time in the future, of adding to the Dining Room facilities by installing a vending machine for hot and cold meals/snacks, which would be particularly useful during off-peak periods.J. Bainbridge,
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