ABSTRACT
This chapter is an attempt to explore the relationship between patients, the intended beneficiaries of medical charities, and those who controlled entrance to the voluntary hospital, whether subscribers or staff, in greater detail than has been the case in the majority of hospital histories. In particular, it compares the experiences of patients at five very different voluntary hospitals in Birmingham and illustrates various efforts that were introduced in the nineteenth century to discover more about the recipients of charity at these local medical institutions. By the end of the eighteenth century, another two dozen towns, of which Birmingham was one of the last, established similar medical charities. Though the printed regulations of Birminghams first medical charity specified those patients the institution did and did not serve, individuals who managed to gain access to hospital wards were often very different from those whom governors initially aimed to assist.
