VPRS 7565 Admission Warrants, Male and Female Patients

Full description

Admission Warrants consisted of the official document and accompanying medical certificates which authorized a person's committal to an asylum as a lunatic patient. People could be admitted to an asylum as a lunatic patient by a number of means, as follows:
Any friend, relative or acquaintance could request a person's admission as a lunatic. The form of the request was initially established in the tenth schedule of the Lunacy Statute 1867. The order was to be accompanied by medical certificates written by two medical practitioners. The Mental Health Act 1959 classified such patients as: 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.

Any (lunatic) person found wandering at large or not under proper care and control could be brought before two justices who could order the person's removal to an asylum. The police were usually responsible for bringing the person before the two justices. In these cases a police report will usually be found with the Order written by the two Justices, together with two medical certificates and a statement outlining the personal and medical details of the supposed lunatic. The Mental Health Act 1959 classified this type of patient as a Judicial Admission (J).

Any prisoner of the Crown thought to be a lunatic could be removed from a gaol to an asylum by order of the Chief Secretary. Such persons were subsequently classified as security patients (S).

Voluntary Boarders (V) were those who requested that they be admitted for a mutually agreed period of time (from 1915 onwards)

Any Ward of the State thought to be a lunatic or mentally defective could be sent to an asylum by order of the Chief Secretary.

The above types of admission had to be approved and certified within three days of a patient's reception at an asylum. Further details regarding these categories of admission are specified in the Lunacy Statute 1915 and the Mental Health Act 1959.

Responsibility for the admission procedure has changed several times since 1867. The Lunacy Statute 1867 designated the Chief Secretary as the responsible authority. From 1893 to 1934 the Inspector General of the Insane supervised the admission procedure after which time responsibility was transferred to the Director of Mental Hygiene. In 1950 the authorised Medical Officer of the Mental Hygiene Authority was responsible for the admissions procedure. Subsequently, the Authorised Medical Officer of the Mental Health Authority (est 1962), the Mental Health Division of the Health Department (est 1978) and from 1985 the Office of Psychiatric Services have overseen the admissions procedure.

The format of the admission papers has varied over time. In most cases the papers provide details of: the person's name; age; previous place of abode; occupation; and, in the case of "recommended" patients, details of the person requesting their admission. One or more reports written by medical practitioners are also usually attached. In many cases, papers recording the death, discharge or transfer of the patient or the release of the patient on trial leave are attached to the admission papers.