VPRS 17875 Admission Register of Patients (General Surgical Ward, Section 86 (3) Transfers)

This series, from Mont Park's (VA 2846) General Surgical Unit, contains a register of patients who were transferred to/from the unit, as per Section 86 (3) of the Mental Health Act 1959. Section 86 (3) states: "Power to remove patients for health reasons. The superintendent of any institution may with the consent in writing of the chief medical officer send or take under proper control any patient to any place specified in the consent for any limited time for the benefit of his health."From 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 name; date of admission; admission number; date of last previous admission; age; marital status; occupation; previous place of abode; religion and 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 Register of Patients and Discharge Register officially superseded the separate Discharge Register, however some institutions continued to maintain a separate record of patient discharges, transfers and deaths.

本数据集源自蒙帕克医院（Mont Park，编号VA 2846）普通外科病房，收录了依据1959年《精神健康法》（Mental Health Act 1959）第86条第(3)款，在该病房间转院或转出患者的登记信息。第86条第(3)款规定："因健康缘由转移患者的权限。任何医疗机构的主管人员，经首席医疗官书面同意后，可在妥善管控下，将患者送往同意书中指定的地点，以有限时长为限，为其健康福祉提供照料。"

至少自1845年《精神错乱者护理与治疗管理法》（An Act for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics，维多利亚女王8-9年第100号法案）颁布以来，公立精神病院与持牌精神病疗养机构便被要求留存患者登记册。早期持牌机构的登记册官方定名为《入院簿》（Book of Admissions）；部分机构的登记册亦被称为《入院登记册》（Admissions Register）或《入院与出院登记册》（Admission and Discharge Register），上述称谓有时会加盖在卷宗之上。

患者一经送入精神病院，该院办事员便需即刻在患者登记册中完成录入。记录的详情包括：患者姓名、入院日期、入院编号、末次入院日期、年龄、婚姻状况、职业、既往居所、宗教信仰，以及精神障碍类型与身体健康状态。当患者死亡、转院或出院时，登记册中还需补充相关详情。各机构还需另行留存《出院、转院与死亡登记册》，该登记册通常被称为《出院登记册》（Discharge Register）。

《精神错乱法》及后续立法的附表中规定的患者登记册格式，在1962年《1959年精神健康法》正式生效前几乎未有变动。此后该登记册正式定名为《患者与出院登记册》（Register of Patients and Discharge Register），并新增了入院类型相关信息。1959年《精神健康法》（Mental Health Act 1959）第41至49条规定了以下五类入院情形：
1. 自愿住院者（Voluntary Boarders，简称V）：指主动申请入院的患者，或年龄未满16岁者，经其父母或监护人同意，并经执业医师评估后入院。
2. 推荐入院者（Recommended，简称R）与核准入院者（Approved，简称A）：可凭经问诊的执业医师出具的规定格式推荐书办理入院。入院后，医院主管人员需尽快对患者进行评估，核准其入院资格或将其出院，其中经核准的推荐入院患者即为核准入院者。
3. 司法强制入院者（Judicial Admissions，简称J）：若经宣誓向治安法官提交的信息显示，某精神疾病患者未获得妥善照料、无法自理或已实施犯罪，且经两名执业医师评估后，可下达命令将该患者送入或扣留于精神病院。
4. 安保住院者（Security Patients，简称S）：指原本被关押于监狱，经鉴定患有精神疾病后转至精神病院的患者。

《患者与出院登记册》（Register of Patients and Discharge Register）正式取代了独立的《出院登记册》（Discharge Register），但部分机构仍会另行留存患者出院、转院与死亡的记录。