Dear Carol. I do believe that Mac Culham and his crew at the BC Archives would be a better vehicle for your query. The RVH decline may be reflective of a new criterion for access or perhaps something less substantial. That said, because you are not sure of the year of admission for your Great Uncle, you must give them a bracket of a few years around 1930; take heed that the greater the range, the less inclined they may be in searching for the file. When submitting your request, relate your research interest and your relatedness as well as the following search parameters:

GR- 1754 Mental Hospital Records
Box Volume Date range

1 3 Admissions book 1 Apr 1922-13 Jun 1930
2 4 Admissions book 1 Apr 1930-14 Mar 1937
10 14 Patients' register 7 Apr 1922-31 Mar 1930
11 15 Patients' register 5 Apr 1930-11 Dec 1946

I do believe that these early records are alphabetized; note that you may not be able to access one record class (either Admission or registers; I can't remember which) but Mac will give you what he can, given the constraints of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. Carol, follow the previous link to retrieve the (e)-mailing specifics.

Best Regards
Ron