Last updated:
What do I need to know?
- the name(s) of the institution(s) they were treated at, and
- dates when they were treated will also help your search.
The records are not catalogued by name but by hospital, type of record and date period.
You will need to order the record then browse through the pages to identify a patient’s name to find patient records.
Many patient records will be closed for privacy reasons under Section 9 (s9) of the Public Records Act).
How do I search?
Patient records were filed in different places, for example Case Files, Admission Book, Patient clinical notes, Post Mortem Book, Theatre register, and so on. Try searching using these kinds of keywords, or just browse the record listings for each hospital.
About these records
Hospitals kept various records about the patients in their care, from simple lists of who was a patient to detailed medical notes about treatment.
Who created these records?
These records were created by Victorian public hospitals, some of which are now closed. Note that we may have fewer records from hospitals that are currently operating, as some records will still be in the hospital’s custody.
Next Steps
Once you have found records of interest to you, order them online and then view in our Reading Room.
What are in these records?
The level of detail in the records varies a lot depending on what was retained. In general, if we have any patient records, you might find:
- the patient’s name
- the dates of their admission and discharge
- basic details of their history (age, place of birth, current residence)
- details of their illness or injury.
In a few cases we have more detailed medical histories of patients.
Some of the records that you will find with this search may not relate to patient care. For instance, we hold building contract records relating to the Royal Dental Hospital. If these kinds of records are the only ones you see in the result set it usually means we do not have anything relating to patient care for that particular hospital.
Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples should be aware the collection and website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.
PROV provides advice to researchers wishing to access, publish or re-use records about Aboriginal Peoples