Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA in Gauteng intends to campaign for decent facilities with adequate staffing at Helen Joseph Hospital following the assault of 32 staff members by psychiatric patients.
On Tuesday, DA Gauteng spokesperson on health, Jack Bloom, urged the department to address the need for more staff recruitment and security as well as decent facilities to ensure that mental health patients were properly cared for and in a safe manner.
This comes after revelations that psychiatric patients at the Helen Joseph Hospital had assaulted 32 staff members and caused extensive property damage in the past year.
According to Gauteng Health MEC, Nomathemba Mokgethi, about 25 staff members were attacked in the emergency department, with another six staff members attacked in the female ward and another staff member attacked in the male ward.
Nurses bitten and hit by psychiatric patients in Helen Joseph Hospital
The figures were provided by Mokgethi in response to questions Bloom posed regarding mental health patients at the hospital.
Mokgethi provided the 32 assault cases recorded by staff at the hospital between January 2021 and February 2022.
In an incident on 29 July 2021, a worker explained how a psychiatric patient who was armed with a knife stabbed a guard who ended up in casualty with a collapsed lung.
The worker said:
In another incident, a doctor reported being hit in the face by a female patient on 12 February 2021 at around 14:14.
“I was not even seeing this woman at the time,” said the doctor.
Recently, another doctor reported being threatened by a female mental health patient.
The doctor said:
According to Bloom, staff at the hospital lived in fear because of violent psychiatric patients.
“A psychiatric patient once picked up a wheelchair and tried to throw it at staff, and then broke off a bar. Other staff members have reported being slapped, scratched, and molested,” said Bloom.
Not only was the staff exposed to assault, but property at the hospital had also been damaged.
Bloom said the property damages included several broken windows, damaged doors, electrical cables tampered with, breaking of basins, taps and toilets and bed and mattresses that were set alight.
According to Bloom, incidents had risen due to an increase in psychiatric patients following the closure of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital’s (CMJAH) psychiatric unit due to a fire.
Since then, Bloom said Helen Joseph Hospital had been experiencing bed shortages for psychiatric patients.
“The main issue here is the ongoing closure of the psychiatric wards at CMJAH, as well as the province-wide shortage of beds for mental health patients. Helen Joseph only has 45 psychiatric beds, but the hospital sees approximately 90 psychiatric patients every day.
“Desperate staff call other psychiatric units every day for possible beds, but most are not available,” Bloom explained.
Bloom said that, according to Mokgethi, the department had attempted to discharge patients who, despite not being psychiatrically well, were deemed a low risk to self or others and has opened a discharge clinic every Monday to review these patients in the outpatient department.
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“It is deplorable that even after the Life Esidimeni tragedy, psychiatric patients are still treated poorly at unsuitable facilities without proper security where they are a danger to themselves and others,” said Bloom.
The Helen Joseph Hospital was in need of extra staff and security was urgently required, said Bloom.
Until then, Bloom said the DA would continue to campaign for decent facilities with adequate staffing to ensure that mental health patients were properly cared for in a safe manner.
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