Winterton Hospital

[mags21]

I wonder if someone can advise please? My great grandfather Joseph dixon died in Winterton Hospital in 1956. I have done further research and have found him as a patient on the 1939 census. that's a long time to be in there! Adding to this I have traced his world war 1 record, and he was discharged due to Melancholia, (today's Depression), hardly surprising with what they all went through and given the Silver War Badge.

Anyway, first question is: can I contact the Durham record office (as they hold the patient records), to have a copy of the patient records that they hold there, if I can prove that his daughter (my grandmother) is deceased; so too is her daughter (my mother, now deceased)?

Second question is: I have read on Rootschat that they only hold up to 1945 or thereabouts but surely I can find out when he was admitted, as he was discharged from the war in 1917 to the 2nd eastern general hospital in Brighton, then to Royal hospital Chelsea and then up home to Pickering Nook. I'm happy to contact Durham record office on Monday but don't want to waste anybody's time if they don't hold that kind of information. Any advice gratefully received.

[KGarrad]

Welcome to RootsChat!

Many hospital records are closed for 100 years, and Durham Record Office say the same thing.

You would have to ask, and see what they say.

See: http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/article/10618/Hospitals
where they suggest using their Research Service. There is a flat fee of £32, with extra research at £16 per half hour.

[SusieK]

We contacted the Tees Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust in 2006 about someone who had been admitted to Winterton in 1943 and 1963 and they said that the documents had been destroyed in accordance with the Trust's destruction policy.

Unfortunately sounds doubtful therefore that the Durham Records Office would have them unless they were copied prior to destruction by the Trust. I don't know exactly what that destruction policy is though, so it may be worth trying anyway. At worst they will tell you the documents no longer exists!

Good luck,

Sue

[KGarrad]

Quoting from the DRO website:

The records of patients and staff are closed to the public for 100 years. Minute books which include details of complaints are closed for 75 years and management committee minutes are closed for 30 years. All closure periods run from the final date of a volume.

We hold case papers for Winterton Hospital (Sedgefield Lunatic Asylum) up to 1945.  After that date we retain only a 2% sample of Winterton Hospital patient files (case notes).

Winterton Hospital patient records are subject to a closure period of one hundred years under Data Protection legislation.  If you think your request will fall into this category, you will need to send us proof (birth/marriage/death certificates) either that:

    you are the patient
    or that the patient is deceased and you are a direct descendant

If we locate notes that are less than 100 years old, we will provide you with contact details of the appropriate NHS Trust, so that you can seek permission to have them released to you.

[SusieK]

Thanks KGarrad for that - the letter we received from the Trust didn't make it clear that papers after a certain date were destroyed. Certainly they didn't have anything for an admission in 1943, which is what we wanted. I'm not really clear on what 1945 actually means - papers for people admitted after 1945, or papers for people who left/died there after 1945. Since my friend's grandfather was admitted in 1943, probably the latter.

We've been on to the DRO website since you posted, to have another look. We have another person who died at Sedgefield/Winterton back in 1922. We never bothered to try getting his papers, as we understood (incorrectly) from the Trust's letter that all papers had been destroyed. We'll try going through the DRO this time, rather than direct to the Trust, which is what we appear to have done last time. Maybe the DRO didn't have the papers ten years ago.

[KGarrad]

It probably refers to the fact that the NHS was founded in 1946 - so a different regime re records came into being.

[SusieK]

Just a little update for anyone else interested in Winterton/Sedgefield - we contacted DRO about someone who was there in about 1922 and got a reply back in 2 days, which was very quick. The researcher found the records and wrote back giving us the record numbers and asking if we wanted him to contact the Trust to ask for the records (should point out that there is another £32 fee for this). So now we are waiting to see exactly what they will send us.

Sue