VPRS 8232 Index to Patient Files (Male Division)

This series was apparently created as an Index to the Patient Files of male patients (VPRS 8244) admitted to Sunbury from August 1912 to 1928. The index records the patient's name, date of admission, file number (until 1925) and the eventual fate of the patient (i.e. the date of the patient's death, discharge, transfer or when boarded out).However it is no longer necessary to use the Index to gain access to the files because, in about 1925, the patient files were rearranged alphabetically by patient name and it was no longer necessary to know the file numbers by which the files had originally been arranged.The volume extant can also be used as an index to a small proportion of the case histories recorded in VPRS 7405 Case Books of Male Patients for patients admitted prior to 1912. (see below).In 1912 the format for recording patient histories was changed from entries in large volumes known as Case Books to folders of looseleaf folios or patient files. This change is reflected in two separate types of entries in the Index and subheadings indicate whether a patient's case history will be found in a Case Book or a looseleaf file.(a) Patients admitted prior to 1912The case histories of patients admitted prior to 1912 were initially recorded in the Case Books (VPRS 7405). No new patients were recorded in the Case Books after 1912 but clinical notes regarding patients already at Sunbury continued to be entered in the Case Books until November 1924.In 1924 this practice ceased and looseleaf patient files (VPRS 8244) were established for all patients who had been admitted prior to 1912 and who were still in the asylum's care.The index contains references in black ink to the volume number and folio of the Case Books for patients whose surnames began with A to O. Inexplicably there are no such references for patients whose surnames began with P to Z.A second column records the numbers of the looseleaf patient files created for patients still in custody in 1924. A separate sequence of numbers with an O prefix (e.g. 08) was allocated for these files. The sequence of the numbers allocated corresponds to the chronology of the dates of admissions. The numbers range from 01 to c.0200 and are mostly entered in green ink. This is mentioned in a note on the frontispiece of the index.Patients who had been boarded out but who were still in Sunbury's custody have also been included in this sequence.(b) Patients Admitted after 1912The case histories of patients admitted after about August 1912 were recorded in looseleaf patient files (VPRS 8244 Patient Files - Males). The file numbers for these patients are recorded in black ink. The sequence of numbers entered was from 1 to c.990 and the last of these file numbers was allocated on 11 March 1925. From that date until about 1928, the names of new patients were recorded in the index in alphabetical - chronological order. Information about the eventual fate of patients continued to be recorded until April 1928 when entries in the index ceased altogether.As indicated above the file numbers recorded in the Index are part of a defunct system of arrangement and control since the files were subsequently arranged alphabetically by patient name.