How to find old hospital records

Your ancestor may not have been treated in a general hospital. Other possibilities include: 

• Asylums: mental health institutions often kept detailed admission registers and case notes. 
• Workhouse infirmaries: these cared for the sick poor before the NHS and can be found in Poor Law Union records. 
• Specialist hospitals: maternity, fever, tuberculosis, and children’s hospitals sometimes created detailed files. 
• Cottage hospitals: established in rural areas, these provided care to local communities from the 19th century onwards. 

Unlike censuses or parish registers, British and Irish hospital records are less likely to be found in a single central archive. They have often been preserved by local archives, county record offices, or in specialist medical collections. 

Findmypast hosts a growing range of hospital and medical collections, making it easier than ever to explore this often-overlooked source. Some of the key record sets you can explore include: 

• London Poor Law Hospital Admissions and Discharges: detailed records of patients admitted to and discharged from Poor Law hospitals, offering names, ages, dates, and reasons for admission. 
• Royal Hospital Chelsea: Pensioner Admissions and Discharges: invaluable for tracing military ancestors who were treated or received pensions here. 
• British Lying-In Hospital Records (1749–1868): maternity hospital registers that can help you trace the births of children, particularly in London. 
• Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases: admission registers and case notes giving insight into treatment and medical conditions. 
• Medical registers and directories: for finding ancestors who worked in the medical profession, from doctors and surgeons to nurses. 

These digitised collections can help you uncover not only when and why your ancestor entered the hospital, but also the details of their condition, treatment, and sometimes even their occupation or family background. 

If you’re unsure whether an ancestor spent time in a hospital, census records can help. From 1841 onwards, UK censuses list individuals in institutions, including hospitals, asylums, and infirmaries. If your ancestor is recorded at one of these addresses, you'll know where to begin your search for surviving records. 

By combining hospital records with census entries, parish registers and newspaper reports, you can delve deeper into the personal and social context of your ancestor's illness or recovery. 

Start local. Work out which hospitals existed near your ancestor’s home and check local archives. 

Be flexible with names, as spelling errors or abbreviations are common in older registers. 

Explore related records. Poor Law records, asylum casebooks, or death certificates can point you towards hospital stays. 

Pair with newspapers. The local press sometimes reported on hospital admissions, inquests, or charitable events, so be sure to explore digitised newspapers online. 

Old hospital records may not survive for every institution, but when they do, they offer a deeply human connection to your ancestors' stories. They remind us that behind every name and date lies a lived experience of care, struggle, and resilience.