Description

Section 47 of the National Assistance Act 1948 (NAA 1948) allows for compulsory care of elderly people, living in insanitary conditions, who are not receiving care they need, but are refusing to accept assistance when offered. Local authorities are responsible for the exercise of powers contained in Section 47, subject to medical recommendation from a Health Authority. A Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, an officer of the health Authority, tenders such advice as a proper officer’* a designated officer. The use of the Act has declined, but remains on the statute books.

A review of studies on the working of Section 47 in England and Wales over the past thirty years shows uncertainty in the application of the law, primarily due to lack of training and formal guidance to the Section.

A review of the theory and practice of Section 47 is described in part one with a proposed code of practice in the second part of this paper.