Few clinicians would recurrently venture on the task of preparing a large hospital’s statistical report without a conviction that it had not only a present value but also some value of a more lasting kind. In preparing the Sixth Triennial Report (the fourth prepared by him), the present editor has come increasingly to see this series as a mirror reflecting aspects of the life-history of the Bethlem-Maudsley hospital; and the dry bones of its statistical tables may help a future historian to re-create something of the living and changing scene.
The present Report is somewhat bulkier than its two predecessors. This is because it not only presents the statistics of the
current triennium but compares them with those of the four previous triennia and discusses some of the statistical trends discernable over this period.
The present Report closely follows the pattern of the previous ones. There is one important change in lay-out: for each chapter, the commentary now precedes the tables.
In editing the third Report, I have been very conscious of my inadequacy as successor to Dr. Blacker; but my task has been made smoother and my inexperience mitigated by the good fortune of my having had, at every stage, his ready help and guidance.
The subject matter of the first five chapters is the statistical information which, as a routine, is recorded on the front page of the case-notes of every out- and in-patient.
In July 1948, the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley
Hospital, which had previously been independent of each other,
were combined as a Teaching Hospital. This report covers the
activity of the Joint Hospital from 1st January, 1949 to 31st
December, 1951.
