VPRS 18430 Leave of Absence Registers: Voluntary Patients (Lakeside Hospital)

The records in this series comprise of Leave of Absence Registers that document voluntary patients who were on voluntary leave from the Lakeside Hospital. Although voluntary patients consented to treatment on their own behalf, they were admitted to the institution at the discretion of the authorised psychiatrist. As voluntary patients, they had the right to leave a psychiatric in-patient service at any time.Section 41 (11) of the Mental Health Act 1959 (No. 6605) stated that "the superintendent of any institution may permit a voluntary patient to have leave of absence from such institution for any period not exceeding three months and during or at the expiration of any such leave may readmit such patients without receiving any further request for admission".The registers contain entries under the following headings:- date of admission- whether male or female- name of patient- register number- period of leave allowed- date of return or discharge- name, relationship and address of guardian.In some instances the patient died while on leave and therefore were not returned or discharged. A noticeable difference between leave of absence registers and trial leave registers is that there is no extended leave applying to leave of absence.