Tuesday 24 February 2015

Taking the pulse: the NAI's hospital records project

An update on the National Archives of Ireland's Survey of Hospital Records project was recently published in The Medical Independent, a newspaper and website principally aimed at doctors and other healthcare professionals.

The project, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust, aims to record the type, date range and quantity of pre-1970 records, as well as their overall condition and storage arrangements.

The feature gives us a bit of insight into the type of records we may one day be able to access. However, it points out that such hospital records currently have no legal protection, 'and it is often only through the good offices of interested hospital staff that material has been preserved'.

That's rather alarming!