Community Participation in the Mental Hospital *Based on a contribution to a discussion on "The Development of an Ideal Mental Health Service through co-operation between voluntary and statutory bodies", at a Conference of the Scottish Association for Mental Health in Edinburgh in June, 1951.

The development of a Hospital Auxiliary Committee is an example of co-operation between voluntary and statutory bodies within the framework of the National Health Service?the statutory body being the hospital Board of Management and its officials, and the voluntary body being the Auxiliary Committee composed of interested individuals from the community served by the hospital. The people of this country have long regarded personal participation in the care of the sick, either by gifts of money or by personal service, as a privilege and a duty. When the National Health Service Bill was published many people feared that the possibility of their personal participation would cease or at least