NRS-17700 | Operation registers

Full description

This series records surgical operations carried out at Royal Newcastle Hospital. The information recorded varies slightly over time, but typically includes the name of the patient, the date of the operation, the names of the surgeon and of the anaesthetist (perhaps also the names of any other doctors present, or of the assisting nurses), the patient’s diagnosis, the procedure carried out, sometimes with its duration, and the result. The numbering of entries in the first volume commences, like the volume itself, in June 1892, but from 1894 the numbering normally starts anew at the beginning of each year.

The series as preserved consists of ten volumes, which cover the period from June 1892 until March 1949. Until the end of 1920, all operations of whatever kind are recorded in these registers. Thereafter, separate series of registers are maintained for eye operations (NRS 17698) and for ear, nose and throat operations (NRS 17699). All three series appear to conclude within two days of one another at the end of March/ beginning of April 1949, which may point to a broader change in the Hospital’s record-keeping arrangements at that time.

The first seven volumes of the series are quarter-bound ledger-type volumes, all displaying signs of wear, but substantially intact. The last three are of the “expanding” type, with inserted pages between rigid covers with metal fittings; some of the pages in these are now slightly loose.