VPRS 17384 Honorary Physicians' Case Book, Midwifery Department

Full description

There are only two extant volumes in this series, both commencing in October 1888; one for the patients of Dr Michael Ulick O'Sullivan and the other for those of Dr John William Dunbar Hooper, two of the four new Honorary Physicians appointed to the Midwifery Department at that time.

Following a complete separation and reorganisation of the Infirmary and Midwifery Departments in 1888 the hospital changed its Midwifery Department record keeping system from one record (VPRS 17382 Midwifery Books, RWH Series 0047) to two by introducing VPRS 17383 Birth Registers (RWH Series 0158) and the more detailed VPRS 17385 Labour Ward Case Books (RWH Series 0156). Unlike the Infirmary Department's Honorary Physicians Case Books (VPRS 17390) which usually have only the patients of one doctor, these volumes were for all the patients of the department.

There seems to have been a transition stage when individual doctors maintained their own midwifery case books, as was done in the Infirmary Department, as there are two extant Honorary Physicians' Case Books. It is not known if the other Honorary Physicians also had their own Case Books at this time and how complete this series is, or indeed how complete the record in "Labour Ward Book No 2", or the other early Labour Ward Case Books is. It is also possible that these are the only two survivors of an older record keeping system.

There is considerable duplication of cases between the Honorary Physicians Case Books and the Labour Ward Case Books. Some of the cases recorded in "Labour Book No 2" are duplicates of cases recorded in the two Honorary Physicians' Case Books. There are however many more cases in the Honorary Physicians' Case Books which are not in "Labour Book No 2".

These two volumes are very large leather bound volumes, the same as the Labour Ward Case Books from the same period.

Prior to transfer to Public Record office Victoria, the records in this series were maintained as part of the Royal Women's Hospital Archives in RWH series number 0154.

They have both been microfilmed (Film 4, RWH Series 0152).