Medical Records

[carmay]

I have been on a quest to get a copy of my grandmother's medical records. She died 25 October, 1926 at Hope Hospital, 2 Stott Lane, Salford. The cause of death is listed as "acute mania".

I have written to the Salford Royal Hospital which is the name of Hope Hospital, and then had nothing. They told me to check with the GMRO, which I did, and nothing. The GMRO told me to try Prestwich Hospital, which I did and there are no records there.

My Mom was told at the age of 6 that her mother had died. The truth is that my Mom was 7-1/2 when her mother died, which means that her mother was probably in the hospital for the mentally ill for a year and half before she actually died.

I find it hard to believe that there is no record of her at Salford Royal, the GMRO, or Prestwich.

Any ideas where else I can look, or someone I could contact about this?

Thank you,
Carole

[andycand]

Hi

It is possible that the records have not been kept. The link below has information.

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1889.aspx?CategoryID=68&SubCategoryID=160

There may also be restrictions on access even if the records still exist

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0qx3/

I just checked and it would appear that Manchester Archives have some records,

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0qx4/

Hope Hospital was originally the Union Workhouse and this link has some information. If you scroll down there is information about surviving records.

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Salford/

Andy

[carmay]

Thanks, Andy. I'll check out those links.

The responses that I have received from the three places I wrote to didn't say anything about access. They all said that they could find no record for May Livesley. I even had them try under her maiden name, May Avery, in case she was admitted under that name, since I am sure back then there was shame attached to mental illness. But they could find nothing.

Carole

[LizzieW]

If Manchester Archives have got a copy of your grandmother's medical records, they won't let you have them until 2026.  They stick doggedly to the 100 year rule and it was only after I told them that a member of my family had a mental illness and we wanted to know if it was hereditary, that they agreed to let me have only the admission page of a g.uncle who went into Prestwich asylum in 1907.   As my g.uncle didn't die (still in the asylum) until 1964 they won't let me have the rest of the records until 2064, by which time I'll be 123 - if I'm still alive. 

If you say the same to them, you might also get your grandmother's admission page.

Lizzie

[*sara*]

Hi Carole
I too have an ancestor who was in an asylum in the 1920's. In fact several asylums. I went to TNA to search through the registers and from these ( once I found her name after trawling through many registers) I found th name of the asylum and her admission number. I contacted 3 record offices and 2 were quite curt and said no chance within 100 yrs but Devon record office copied everything they have for a fee and it was fascinating reading, strange how some stick to 100 yrs and some not!

I hope you have some luck
Sara

[LizzieW]

strange how some stick to 100 yrs and some not!

That's what's interesting, because in reality there is no 100 year rule, it's just some people who like to think there is, but nothing will change the minds of the people at the Manchester Archives, not Freedom of Information, etc. 

Anyway in this case, as Carole's gran's records (if they still exist) are held in Manchester, unless there's a change of heart, she won't be able to get a copy of them.

Lizzie

[carmay]

Thanks everyone.

I did tell all three places that I am the sole survivor of the family, and that I wanted the information for medical purposes. My grandmother suffered from whatever acute mania was back in the 1920's, and my sister suffered from severe depression which eventually took her life. Since if it is hereditary it appears to skip a generation, I was afraid for my niece if she were to have children.

But none of them said anything about access. They all said they could find no record of a May Livesley.

What is TNA?

Thanks,
Carole

[LizzieW]

Carole

It could be that your gran's records weren't saved.  Prestwich Asylum archivist told me that only records which could be useful in future years were saved.  How anybody knew which they would be useful I have no idea.

TNA is The National Archives, in Kew London.

Lizzie

[andycand]

strange how some stick to 100 yrs and some not!

That's what's interesting, because in reality there is no 100 year rule, it's just some people who like to think there is, but nothing will change the minds of the people at the Manchester Archives, not Freedom of Information, etc. 

Anyway in this case, as Carole's gran's records (if they still exist) are held in Manchester, unless there's a change of heart, she won't be able to get a copy of them.

Lizzie

Whilst there is no such thing as a 100 year rule there are laws regarding releasing certain information about  living people. To ensure this does not happen many documents have a 100 year restriction placed on them. There are also separate laws about Health Records of deceased people. Archives such as Manchester don't have the authority to release information that is embargoed, only the relevant Health Authority does.

According to the Manchester Archives link on an earlier message there are Patient Records from 1927 to 1989 but if you scroll down to the 2 Dropbox URLs which has more detail of the records, they don't appear to be complete. It might be worth checking if Salford Archives have any earlier ones.

Carole, I have no doubt that you would have been told about access restrictions if the records had been found. I think you would then have had to make some sort of formal request to the Health Authority giving your relationship to the deceased and the reason for access. The records would then be checked as there may be information that can't be released such as references to other family members who may still be alive.

Andy