VPRS 18435 Nominal Register of Patients/Register of Section 88 Examinations

The Nominal Register was created to record the names of all patients on the books of the Asylum. Both patients in residence and those out on trial leave were included.The first volume is a Nominal Register of Patients at Royal Park Hospital from its beginning as a mental hospital.The second register has the following statement inside the front cover: "From 1.1.35 this Book ceases to be a Nominal Register recording cases received and discharged, and becomes merely a record of Examinations made under Sec 88. See card system supplanting Nominal Registers from 1.1.35". However, evidence from the volume is that information for patients received after 1/1/1935 is similar to that for patients received before that date.The legislation requiring an annual examination of patients was amended by the Lunacy Act 1903 section 88. From 1905 patients were to be examined once every twelve months for their first three years in residence and subsequently once every five years by the Superintendent of the asylum or in the case of a licensed house, by the Government Medical Officer. A report was then to be made to the Inspector-General of the Lunacy Department who in turn reported to the Chief Secretary (from 1950, reports were sent to the Chief Medical Officer of the Mental Hygiene Branch). The five yearly examinations were known as quinquennial examinations.The registers record the date that the patient was received into the Royal Park Hospital and the full name of the patient. The registers record the date of discharge and how discharged. This could include the transfer of the patient to another institution or the fact that the patient had died. In cases where a patient has been discharged, the relevant section of the Act is recorded. The registers record on a year by year basis the date on which the individual was subject to a medical examination. Quinquennial examinations are denoted by the letter "Q".Males and females are recorded separately. Males are entered in the left hand folios and females in the right hand folios.The Nominal Register can be used as a means of establishing the date of admission of a patient, and hence locating patient information in :VPRS 17881 Register of Patients: Voluntary BoardersVPRS 17882 Register of Patients: Recommended PatientsVPRS 17883 Register of Patients: InebriatesVPRS 17893 Register of Patients