VPRS 7486 Asylum Records

The following volumes are included in the series.VOLUME 1 REGISTER OF PATIENTSUsing Registers of Patients/Admission RegistersEach volume of these registers contains an index by patient name which gives a reference to the number of the page of that volume upon which the patient's entry will be found.Register of PatientsFrom at least 1845 and the proclamation of An Act for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics (8 & 9 Vic c.100), public asylums and licensed houses were required to maintain a Register of Patients. Initially the register maintained by licensed houses was officially known as the Book of Admissions. In some institutions the Register was also known as an Admissions Register or as an Admission and Discharge Register and these terms were sometimes stamped on the volumes.Immediately upon the admission of a person to an asylum, the clerk of the asylum was required to make an entry in the Register of Patients. Details recorded included:patient's namedate of admissionadmission numberdate of last previous admissionagemarital statusoccupationprevious place of abodereligion, andonce examined by a medical officer, the form of mental disorder and state of physical health.Further details were entered in the register on the death, transfer or discharge of a patient. Institutions were also required to maintain a separate Register of Discharges, Removals and Deaths, usually known as a Discharge Register.The format of the Register of Patients which was specified in a schedule to the Lunacy Statute and succeeding legislation, changed little until the proclamation of the Mental Health Act 1959 in 1962.The record then became officially known as the Register of Patients and Discharge Register and included information about the types of admission. The following five types of admission were specified under sections 41 to 49 of the Mental Health Act 1959.- Voluntary Boarders (V) were those who entered the hospital at their own request or, if under the age of 16 at the request of a parent or guardian and on the opinion of a medical practitioner.- Recommended (R) and Approved (A) Patients. A person could be admitted upon the recommendation set out in a prescribed form, of a medical practitioner who had examined the person. As soon as possible after admission the superintendent of the hospital was required to examine the patient and either approve the recommended admission or discharge the patient.- Judicial Admissions (J). Upon information provided on oath before a justice that a mentally ill person was not receiving proper care, or could not support himself/herself or had committed an offence, and after examination by two medical practitioners, an order could be made for the person to be admitted to or detained in a mental hospital.- Security Patients (S) were those who had been detained in a gaol but were transferred to a mental hospital upon being determined to be mentally ill.The post 1962 Registers of Patients also included information previously recorded in a separate Discharge Register, e.g. institution to which the patient was transferred; assigned cause of death where applicable. However some institutions continued to maintain a separate Discharge Register.There is no index to this volume.System of Arrangement/ControlContents: Chronological by date of admission, sequential number allocated to each patient.Range of Control SymbolsContents: 10.11.1910 - 8.2.1923, 1 - 34VOLUME 2 CASE BOOKSHow to locate an individual case historyCase histories were recorded chronologically by date of admission of the patient. Some casebooks include an alphabetical index to patients which gives the page number on which the entry is found. In some institutions, a separate Index to Casebooks was maintained.When no index is available, it is necessary to determine the date of admission by consulting other records such as Registers of Patients, most of which have alphabetical indexes by patient name. Dates of admission can also be obtained from Nominal Registers, which are arranged alphabetically by patient name. Annual Examination Registers can be used to ascertain dates of admission if other records are not extant and centrally created Alphabetical Lists of Patients in Asylums (VPRS 4779) which cover the period 1849 to 1885 can also be used.CasebooksFrom at least 1845 and the proclamation of An Act for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics (8 & 9 Vic c.100), each asylum was required to maintain a Casebook of patients. The book was to be kept in such form as the Governor in Council was from time to time to direct. As soon as possible after the admission of any patient and periodically thereafter, the following details were to be entered into the Casebook:the mental state and bodily condition of every patient on admissionthe history of his/her case recorded from time to time while he/she continued to be a patient in the asyluma correct description of the medicine and other remedies prescribed for the treatment of his/her disorderand in the case of death an exact account of the autopsy (if any) of the patient.Information recorded in the case histories included:Personal Details- date of admission- admission number- name and address of nearest relative- by whom brought to the asylum- previous residence- age and sex of patient- whether married, widowed or single- if any family- occupation- habits of lifeMedical Details- form of insanity- duration of present attack- if disordered before/if disorder hereditary- specific signs of insanity- if suicidal- if dangerous and destructive- a brief description of bodily condition- the history of his/her case recorded from time to time while he/she continued to be a patient in the asylum- a description of the medicine and other remedies prescribed for the treatment of his/her disorder.The casebooks usually record whether a patient was transferred elsewhere, discharged or died in custody. A copy of the post-mortem report was sometimes included in cases of death.These books were to be regularly inspected by an Inspector or other officer appointed under the provisions of the prevailing legislation. It was expected that a full account of the mental and physical condition of the patient would be entered in the casebook on admission of the patient with a further note to be made at the end of each month at least for the first six months and subsequently a full note every six months. However such thorough and accurate notes were not always maintained.In later years the format of the casebooks was altered slightly. Reference was made to the admission number of the patient and a photograph of the patient on admission was often included. Additional information such as extracts from the required medical certificates and a copy of the Medical Superintendent's report on the mental and physical condition of the patient were often incorporated and additional space was provided for recording the history of each patient.In 1912 the format of case histories was changed from bound casebooks to looseleaf folio format. The new format facilitated the transfer of case histories with the patients when they were sent to other institutions.The page on the right reports on the medical history of the patient. The Inspector-General of the Insane expected that a full account of the mental and physical condition of the patient would be entered in the Case Book on admission along with a note at the end of each month at least for the first six months, and afterwards a full note every six months. However, such thorough and accurate notes were not always maintained. The Case Books usually record whether the patient was transferred elsewhere, discharged or died while in custody. In later volumes, in cases of death, a copy of the Post-Mortem Examination Report is sometimes included in the Case Book.There is an index by patient surname at the front of all the volumes which gives folio number references.Range of Control SymbolsVolumes: No control symbols apparent.Contents: 10.11.1910 - 8.2.1923VOLUME 3 DISCHARGE REGISTERUsing Discharge RegisterSome Discharge Register included an index by patient name which provides a reference to the number of the page on which the patient's entry will be found. In some institutions the index was in the form of a separate book held inside the front cover of the Register and consequently some indexes are no longer extant.Where there is no index, researchers need to know the date of discharge of the patient. This information was usually recorded in the Register of Patients and sometimes recorded in the Nominal Register.Discharge RegisterWithin twenty-four hours after the discharge, removal or escape of any patient the clerk of the asylum was to make and sign an entry to record this occurrence in the Discharge Register also known as the Register of Discharges, Removals and Deaths. This was required under the provisions of section 23 of the Lunacy Statute 1867. Subsequent legislation included similar provisions. An entry was also to be made in the Register of Patients and a written notice was to be sent to the Chief Secretary.The format of the Discharge Register was specified in the seventeenth schedule of the 1867 Act and in schedules to subsequent legislation. Details recorded included date of death, discharge or removal, date of last admission, number in Register of Patients, name at length, name of hospital to which patient removed (if applicable), condition on discharge, cause of death (if applicable) and age at death. The entries are arranged chronologically by date of discharge.Range of Control SymbolsContents: 1.2.1911 - 11.11.1924, 1 - 35.VOLUME 4 STAFF REGISTER AND ANNUAL EXAMINATION OF PATIENT REGISTERThis volume has a copy of the License at the front of the volume.This volume was used to record:A. Register of nurses and attendants employed at "The Tofts" which in part indicates their date of employment.B. A register of patients which records the date of annual examination of patients held between 1910 and 1923. This examination, which was required annually for the first 3 years patients were in residence in an asylum or licensed house and subsequently once every five years under section 88 of the Lunacy Act 1903, was undertaken by the Government Medical Officer. A report was then to be made to the Inspector-General of the Lunacy Department.Entries are listed in chronological order by date of admission. Details recorded include date of admission, admission number, name of patient, date of examinations, when discharged, and date when the next examination is due.This volume also records the dates when the admission papers relating to the patient were received.Range of Control SymbolsStaff Register: 10.11.1910 - 10.4.1923Patient Register: 10.11.1910 - 5.2.1923VOLUME 5 MEDICAL JOURNALEach Hospital for the Insane and Licensed House was required to maintain a Medical Journal under section 37 of the Lunacy Act 1903. Every week the Superintendent of the Licensed House was to enter or cause to be entered in the Medical Journal a statement showing the date, number of patients of each sex in the asylum, the name of every patient who had been placed in seclusion or under restraint since the last entry, the reasons and length of time of the seclusion/restraint, names of patients under medical treatment and for what (if any) bodily disorder, the condition of the institution, and every death, injury and violences to patients since the last entry.The contents of the Medical Journal are arranged chronologically by the date of the report. Some of the medical details the superintendent was required to enter by the Lunacy Act were not entered in this Journal. This is the only volume recovered to date.Range of Control SymbolsContents: 18.11.1910 - 12.11.1921VOLUME 6 INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S AND VISITOR'S BOOKUnder the provisions of the Lunacy Act 1903 the Governor-in-Council was to appoint not less than two Justices to be official visitors to visit the metropolitan hospitals and not less than two Justices to be official visitors for each of the country hospitals. The Official Visitors were to be accompanied by the Inspector-General of the Insane. A visit was to be made at least once every three months. The Official Visitors were to inspect every part of the building and grounds, every patient and to inquire whether any patient is under restraint or in seclusion and if so why, the registers of patients, and the order and certificates for the reception of every patient who had been admitted since the last visit. On inspection they were to enter in the "Inspector-General's and Visitors' Book" a memo of the condition of the hospital and patients, the number of patients under restrain or seclusion and the reasons for that treatment, and to specify any irregularities in any order or certificates.A copy of the relevant legislation is placed at the front of the volume. The Reports are arranged chronologically.Range of Control SymbolsContents: 25.11.1910 - 17.10.1924VOLUME 7 REGISTER OF VOLUNTARY BOARDERSThese volumes record the admission of all patients who were voluntary boarders. "Voluntary Boarders" were those persons who made and signed a request to be cared for as a patient in a hospital for the insane or a licensed house. Voluntary boarders were not to be deemed a "lunatic" or a "lunatic patient" within the meaning of the Lunacy Acts. Voluntary boarders could be discharged on their own application.The details this register records include:- date of reception- name- sex- marital state- age- occupation- address- form of mental disorder- causation- physical condition- period of residence agreed- discharged (method)- any other remarks.These registers ware regularly signed by the Inspector-General of the Insane. Entries are arranged chronologically by date of admission.Range of Control SymbolsContents: 27.1.1916 - 8.4.1923LegislationLunacy Acts Amendment Act 1914.