The patients were an early evolution of Mondasian Cybermen created on Floor 1056 of a Mondasian colony ship. Their development was a key stage of Operation Exodus. (TV: World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls)
Appearance
The patients were partially cyber-converted Mondasians, although their appearance drastically differed from more traditional Cybermen. As their name implied, the patients resembled hospital patients, wearing white hospital gowns with a slim chest unit underneath connected by tubing. The patients also possessed caucasian gloves that closely resembled human hands, and their heads were completely enveloped in plastic bags that were tied at the top of the head. Tubing also fed into the patients' noses from behind their necks, which also sported a plastic, silver band.
The early patients lacked any sort of distinct facial features, but as the patients evolved further, their faces and heads began to more closely resemble those of Mondasian Cybermen; by the time Bill Potts left the hospital of Floor 1056 for the first time, one patient possessed a mouth slit. Furthermore, one of the patients who restrained Bill in the hospital's Conversion Theatre possessed a face with completely black oval-shaped eye-pods, and a flatter black oval-shaped hole for a mouth. The other patient restraining Bill was similar in design, but also possessed a grooved, silver helmet with a band around its edge, resembling part of a Mondasian Cyberman's Cyber-helmet. (TV: World Enough and Time)
Behaviour
For the most part, the patients were catatonic. When not undertaking surgical alterations they were relegated to wheelchairs in the out-patients ward, or even sometimes left to rest in the conversion theatre itself. The patients generally wore an off-blue surgical robe that fastened on the patient's right-hand side, under which could be discerned the outline of a mechanical respirator.
Each patient was equipped with an electronic voice synthesiser. Initially, this was connected to the patients' catheter canisters, though in the years that followed this was eventually integrated into the patients' bodies. The need for them was simple; through the course of the operations to convert them, the patients vocal cords were either severely damaged or removed entirely, rendering them mute. Through the use of the synthesisers, the patients could communicate crude commands, or often communicate their own physical discomfort. One Patient initially discovered by Bill had been attempting to solicit aid from the Hospital through repeatedly communicating one word; "pain". Another patient did the same, instead, pleading with the hospital to euthanize them. The nurse habitually muted the patients' synthesisers so they could more readily ignore their condition.
They appeared to share a consciousness, as a group moved in unison when they sensed Bill try to leave the hospital. (TV: World Enough and Time) The group that was sent to Floor 0507 were revealed to have been somewhat repelled by the residents there, being shot by night then strung up on wooden crosses when disabled during the day. (TV: The Doctor Falls)
They could typically only move at a slow walk but were strong enough to restrain people should the need arise. Jorj also stated they were too strong for him to fight off and that they could snap people in half. However, Razor was able to knock one out with a blow to the back of the head. (TV: World Enough and Time) Unlike subsequent Cyberman models, they could be killed or at least incapacitated by bullets. (TV: The Doctor Falls)