A PADDED cell and a rudimentary electroconvulsive therapy device are stark reminders of how far Valkenberg Hospital has come in treating mental health illness.
The psychiatric hospital is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year and to mark the milestone R146 million is being spent on refurbishing the buildings.
This week, the new-look main administration building was officially opened. The next phase, including upgrading the forensic ward, is under way.
One of the rooms has been turned into a museum, with a display of implements and equipment of years gone that was found during the refurbishment.
Valkenberg hospital head Dr Peter Milligan said they have moved well beyond a model of illness to one of recovery.
He said he wanted Valkenberg to be an accessible place, far from the past in which it was considered to be a secretive area where bad things happened.
Milligan and his team are working hard at taking away the stigma associated with mental illness.
“Mental illness is not who you are, but because of the stigma the illness is used to define people,” Milligan said.
The treatment team does recovery work to affirm people’s value and restore their dignity, so that they can take up their roles in society, Milligan said.
The hospital started out with 2 000 beds because many of the patients stayed for years. Now they have 200 acute beds and the average stay is only 39 days.
Forensic psychiatry is an important part of their work. They observe people referred to them by the courts and they also house long-term state patients.
Professor Dan Stein said mental disability was more debilitating than physical ailments but the treatment gap is huge.
Stein said they are working on a more integrated approach, to reach as many more people as possible.
About 50 percent of patients have dual diagnosis, a mental illness such as depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders coupled with substance abuse.
The hospital’s readmission rate is 5 percent, compared to other countries which have admission rates of between 5 and 15 percent.
Milligan puts this down to them tailor-making treatment and even keeping people for longer if they have no place to go while the hospital explores suitable places for them.
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said patients were no longer presenting with just one condition. They had observed people with conditions such as HIV, diabetes and substance abuse who also need mental health care.