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Additional aid for residents with mental health challenges is being built.
On Thursday 18 April Western Cape Minister of Health and Wellness, Professor Nomafrench Mbombo, returned to Eerste River Hospital to inspect the progress being made in the construction of its Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU).
The budget for the project is R86 million. Work at the hospital will provide the hospital with a dedicated area to treat mental health-care patients. At Eerste River Hospital, its APU will have 30 beds supported by a multidisciplinary team.
Work is anticipated to be completed by the end of January 2025.
Currently all mental-health patients who may pose as a risk to themselves are seen at emergency centres and are placed under observation until the correct course of treatment is decided. This involves either treating the patient at the hospital in a specific ward until they have recuperated or referring them to a specialised psychiatric facility.
“However, with our emergency centres and hospital bed-space capacity being put under strain, building dedicated APUs not only alleviates service pressures, but also allows for a safe and tranquil space for a mental health-care patient to recover,” the department explained in a statement.
The Department of Health and Wellness is investing R279 million in constructing APUs across the province.
In addition to Eerste River projects at Caledon Hospital APU at a cost of R13 million, Khayelitsha District Hospital APU at a cost of R87 million, and New Somerset Hospital APU at a cost of R93 million, are underway.
Speaking to the impact the APU will have on services in future was Dr Fanie Serfontein, medical specialist at the hospital, said: “Eerste River Hospital provides a comprehensive service to mental health-care users for a huge drainage area, which includes Eerste River, Blackheath, Blue Downs, Delft and a part of Kuils River. There is a huge burden of mental-health disease and we are proud to provide a multidisciplinary team approach to our patients.
“Our team consists for nursing staff, clinical staff, a social worker, psychology and an occupational therapist and we strive to give our patients the best possible care. The hospital’s current infrastructure is restrictive in some ways, but that will change with the new APU.”
He added the purpose-designed unit will improve the patient experience and provide patients and staff with a therapeutic environment. Here patients can be treated with dignity and in a beautiful and safe environment.
Mbombo concluded the oversight visit by saying the four APU projects will greatly improve the healthcare system’s capacity for mental health patients and also reduce the pressure being placed on the hospital platform.
“In addition, these dedicated spaces will contribute to combatting the stigma of mental health conditions as these patients will be given the space to recuperate,” she said. “However, it is crucial that we remember that mental health requires a whole-of-society approach and that all stakeholders are needed to reduce the upstream factors affecting mental health in South Africa.”
