VPRS 18136 Receiving House Outpatients Case Book

Receiving Houses were used to provide accommodation for those patients who required only short term diagnosis and treatment. No person was to be detained in a receiving house for more than two months. The Ballarat Receiving House would have been located on the same campus as the Ballarat Mental Hospital.Each patient admitted was required by legislation to have a record created to document their case history from time of admission to time of discharge.These registers document the case history of those patients admitted to the Ballarat Receiving House, for the duration of the registers. The entries in this register are ordered by date of admission.The format of this register differs from other Receiving House case books in that the official case book format has not been utilised, and there is very little information recorded. The top of the page for each entry records the patient's previous address and the name and address of the closest relative. Following is a brief listing of the patient's personal details, i.e. marital status, age, religion, height, weight, details of attack. There follows a series of dated entries giving a brief description of the patient's condition. The last entry will often detail a transfer to another hospital, or another reason for discharge.