VPRS 18095 Patient Case History Files: Female Patients (Royal Park Receiving House, Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital)

Full description

This series consists of Case History Files of female patients admitted to Royal Park Receiving House and Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital (VA 2845).

Each patient admitted into a psychiatric hospital was required by legislation to have a file created which documented their case history from time of admission to discharge or death.

Around 1954, case histories changed from being a simple folio with relatively few entries and attached papers to foolscap sized, manila folder files which contain various types of forms, correspondence and medical paperwork, depending on the legislative requirements at the time.

File covers include the patient name, and provision for recording dates of admission and discharge as well as file movement details if the patient had been admitted to other institutions, as it was required that the file move with the patient.

Contents of the file were not consistent until the Mental Health Regulations 1962 made provision for colour coded sheets to be used within the files for specific purposes which include:

Sheet 1 (brown or plain) - Face sheet providing personal details
Sheet 2 (purple) - Referring letters
Sheet 3 (red) - Superintendents Examination / Reports
Sheet 4 (orange) - Special Examinations / Investigation
Sheet 5 (yellow) - Physical Examination
Sheet 6 (blue) - Psychiatric History
Sheet 7 (black) - Psychiatric Examination
Sheet 10 (green) - Social Worker's Report
Sheet 16 (mauve) - Nursing Notes
Sheet 20 (black) - Post Mortem Examination

Some files include papers relating to admissions that pre-date the creation of this series in cases where papers or files from earlier admissions have been added to, or attached to, the files in this series. Similarly, in some cases content has been added after files have been closed, to accommodate matters such as correspondence relating to freedom of information requests.

Previous series :
VPRS 18098 Patient Clinical Notes