The in-door patients consisting of "foreigners, strangers, and others, in sickness or disease, having neither friends nor homes, are admitted into the wards of this Hospital on their own application, so far as the means of the Charity will permit". The out-door patients, i.e. "all sick and diseased persons, having no other means of obtaining relief, may attend at this Hospital every day at one o'clock, when they will receive medical and surgical advice and medicine free" (Royal Free Hospital Report, Jan 1850, Cover Page).

“Previously to the founding of this Hospital, there was no Medical Establishment in this vast metropolis where the destitute stranger, when overtaken by sickness or disease, and disabled from moving about, could find an asylum for his immediate reception…During each year, great numbers of the sick, on their own application, are received into the wards of this Hospital; and since its foundation…upwards of three hundred and ten thousand patients have obtained relief by its means.” (Royal Free Hospital Report, Jan 1850, History of the Royal Free Hospital)