109 psychiatric patients can't be discharged because facilities are unavailable

2 October 2017  

109 psychiatric patients cannot be discharged from state psychiatric hospitals in Gauteng because no suitable facility can be found for them.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

It costs about R6.8 million a month to keep these patients in the three psychiatric hospitals as per the following:

Weskoppies Hospital - 51 patients costing R53 000 a month each

Sterkfontein Hospital - 38 patients costing R47 000 a month each

Tara Hospital - 18 patients costing R129 000 a month each

Ramokgopa says that patients are discharged when they are stable, as assessed by a multi-disciplinary professional team.

If they are unable to live on their own or their is no family to accept them they are discharged to Contracted Care Centres or licensed NGOs nearest their home or area of origin.

The subsidy for mental health patients in approved NGOs ranges from R1249 to R4096 per month.

The solution is to increase the subsidy so that more NGOs are able to take discharged psychiatric patients and provide the continuing care that they need.

Meanwhile, many patients desperately need treatment at psychiatric hospitals but cannot be admitted because beds are occupied by patients who should have been discharged.

This is not a good situation and changes are needed so that psychiatric patients get good care at every level of the system.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 2 October 2017