Registers of Out-Patients

The first out-patients were received on 26th April 1793. Out-patients could receive advice and medicine only, the dispensing of the latter subject to the patient presenting a ticket they had been issued on arrival. On discharge, the ticket had to be returned to the House Surgeon. Further details concerning out-patients can be found in the hospital's rules and regulations, held under reference MH/T4/AS. Amendments to the rules are also often outlined in the annual reports, held under reference MH/T4/AR 1.

This series of records is, unfortunately, incomplete, with very large gaps in the surviving volumes. While some of the gaps can be filled by using the proceedings of the Weekly Board (see MH/T4/AM 1, AM 4) and the registers of subscribers and recommendation papers (MH/T4/FS), they can really only be used to confirm a patient's presence in the hospital. Another potential source are the Warning Books (MH/T4/Kw), although these include only those patients who had been on the books for at least twelve weeks.

The information contained in the out-patient registers varies over time, but as a general rule the records usually include the following: patient reference number; name, address (usually just the parish) and age of the patient; diagnosis; dates of admission and discharge; name of physician/surgeon; by whom recommended; by whom removed and whether or not the patient benefited from the treatment.

It is worth noting that, owing to the extent of the damage caused by fire, internal evidence (usually the patient reference numbers) has been used to identify some of the volumes as out-patient registers. Also, some operations registers for out-patients can be found under reference MH/T4/Ko 2.