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73
mary:—" In December last (i.e. December, 1935) the County
Council agreed to the provision, as a public health measure, of such
maternity hospital accommodation as may be necessary adequately
to meet the legitimate needs of the County, that is to say, not only
for those women who are financially necessitous or who require
hospital for medical reasons, but for women not included in these
classes who themselves desire to enter hospital for their confinements.
The provision of such accommodation will therefore become
a general county charge, and the County Council will provide the
accommodation for certain classes of women who were formerly
dealt with by local maternity and child welfare authorities.
the County Council has declared its intention of providing
such maternity hospital accommodation as will meet the adequate
needs of the County. With regard to the interpretation of
these needs the County Council has been guided by the advice
received from the officers of the Ministry of Health, and has based
its present proposals upon the total number of beds which would
enable between 30 and 40 per cent. of all births occurring in the
County to take place within county or municipal hospitals. The
County Council's programme is not necessarily final, and the
Council is quite willing to supplement its building scheme if local
circumstances justify this and experience confirms the need."

To the total of 366 beds already provided by the County Council
are to be added an average of 12 beds reserved for the County
Council's use at the Wellhouse Hospital, Barnet, 58 beds belonging
to the Willesden Borough Council and 52 beds likely to be provided
by the Ealing Borough Council, which, altogether, give a total of