VPRS 18103 Patient Clinical Case Notes

This series consists of clinical case notes of patients of Beechworth Hospital for the Insane (1912 - 1934) and Beechworth Mental Hospital (1934 - 1957). Each patient admitted was required by legislation to have a record created which documented their case history from time of admission to discharge or death. The format of patient case records was previously bound case books (see VPRS 7395 Case Books of Male Patients and VPRS 7396 Case Books of Female Patients). Up until 1912, separate Case Books were maintained for male and female patients. From 1912, Patient Clinical Case Notes were maintained for male and female patients in a single sequence. This series consists of loose-leaf four-sided folios. The front cover of the folios include: patient name; admission dates; trial leave dates; dates boarded out; date of discharge or date of death. The inside pages detail: all available personal details; admission details; medical details; as well as running notes by staff on the patient's condition and treatment. Some also contain photographs of the patients. Depending on record format and patient circumstances, the clinical case notes can also include a Statement of Personal Details, superintendent's examinations, special investigations, physical examination, psychiatric history, psychiatric examination, nursing notes and special treatments. The detail provided in these case notes varies from patient to patient with some giving a full account of the patient while others contain limited information. The subsequent series to this series is VPRS 18104 Patient Case Histories. Some clinical case note files can be found in VPRS 18104 as they were likely referred to after the transition to patient case histories.