VPRS 18134 Case Books: Female Patients (Royal Park Hospital for the Insane)

Full description

This series consists of Case Books of female patients admitted to Royal Park Hospital for the Insane (VA 2845).

Each patient admitted into a mental hospital was required by legislation to have a record created to document their case history from time of admission to time of discharge or death. Prior to 1913, this record was in the form of a case book, which preceded the use of individual case histories.

Each entry is assigned four pages. Pages 1 & 2 were used to fill out required information, and pages 3 & 4 were used for a continuation of case notes - most often in the form of irregular updates on the patient's condition.

The common information recorded includes:
Date of Admission
Full Name
Gender
Age
Marital Status
Occupation
Previous Place of Abode
Religion
Personal Details of Friends / Relatives
Details of Attack
Essentials of Medical Certificates (basically, the opinion of the committing medical practitioner)
Physical Condition on Admission
Mental Condition on Admission

The case notes usually begin at the bottom of page 2. The last entry will often detail a transfer to another hospital, or another reason for discharge.
Some entries contain accompanying papers (either loose or pinned), such as:
Discharge or Leave Slip signed by the Medical Superintendent
Correspondence to / from the patient
Request for Reception of Patient
Some entries display a photograph taken on admission.
The register has a name index at the beginning, which records the patient name and the page at which an entry for that person can be found.