Family and welfare approach

Abstract

‘I’d rather die than go to the workhouse’ ; although it is now more than 50 years since the passing of the Act abolishing Poor Law Institutions, the disgrace and degradation associated with ‘the workhouse’ is vividly recalled by the elderly to this day. The fact that, on the demise of the old system, many of the redundant buildings were pressed into service as geriatric units has reinforced for these elderly the impression that the institution has simply changed its name; its grim physical exterior and the persistence of the old reputation for inhumanity and harshness have frequently been detrimental to the attempts at increasing awareness of the current emphasis of work with older patients—individualised care, progressive treatment and active rehabilitation.