Visiting Committee Minutes, 1852 - 1917

Series

Identifier: LHB7/2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The minutes cover all aspects of the hospital's administration and from May 1854 they contain a summary of patient numbers.

The minutes from 14 Jan 1892 - 21 Jan 1897 are duplicated. A note at the beginning of LHB7/2/7 states that the minute book for which it was the draft went missing in 1897. The draft minutes book was apparently used in its place and the minutes from Jan 1892 presumably rewritten from draft. The un-noted recovery of the missing minute books seems to have caused the duplication.

Dates

Creation: 1852 - 1917

Conditions Governing Access

Public access to these records is governed by UK data protection legislation, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and the latest version of the Scottish Government Records Management: Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland). Whilst some records may be accessed freely by researchers, the aforementioned legislation and guidelines mean that records conveying sensitive information on named individuals may be closed to the public for a set time.

Where health records relate to named deceased adults, they will be open 75 years after the latest date referenced, on the next 1 January. Case records of individuals below 18 years of age or adults not proven to be deceased will be open 100 years after the latest date recorded, on the next 1 January. Further information on legislation and guidelines covering medical records can be found here: https://bit.ly/2CXB4V8.

LHSA encourages the use of these records for legitimate clinical, historical and genealogical research purposes, and records that are designated as closed can be consulted by legitimate researchers if certain conditions are met. Please contact the LHSA Archivist for more details regarding procedures on how you can apply for permission to view closed records. Telephone us on: 0131 650 3392 or email us at lhsa@ed.ac.uk.

Biographical / Historical

In July 1852 the Managers appointed a visiting committee of three of their number. This committee, which at first met weekly and later fortnightly, dealt with the day to day running of the hospital: its minutes therefore cover all aspects of the hospital’s administration.

By 1917 the Visiting Committee had expanded to such an extent that most of the hospital’s business was transacted by it. It was decided to discontinue the use of a separate minute book and therefore from October 1917 the Visiting Committee’s minutes will be found with the Manager’s minutes.