Cape Town - Western Cape Health MEC Dr Nomafrench Mbombo officially opened the Stellenbosch Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU) which forms part of several infrastructure projects under way at the hospital.
The psychiatric unit which the hospital has been utilising since February this year, contains four male and four female beds, as well as a four-bed seclusion area.
According to the department, the unit was made due to how most district hospitals in the province were originally not designed to accommodate APUs.
This designated area will greatly assist the hospital in addressing the growing mental health burden in the community, the department said.
In addition to the AP unit, Stellenbosch Hospital also received a brand-new lift which was unveiled on Tuesday.
The hospital’s maternity ward is being upgraded and will be completed in the coming month, the department revealed, adding that thereafter, construction work will commence with the Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) and theatre. The B, C and Children Wards, the staff and lecture rooms, and a new refuse area for medical waste.
Stellenbosch Hospital’s upgrades were budgeted for R35 925 million of which 28.6% has been used to date, with the rest of the funds set to be spent on the remaining construction projects expected to be concluded by the end of May 2024.
Stellenbosch Hospital Medical Manager Dr Natasha Blanckenberg said: “Stellenbosch Hospital is an 85-bed district hospital with 205 staff members who work daily to ensure quality care. In the 2022/23 financial year alone, 7 715 patients were admitted, with 32 000 patients treated in the emergency centre and a further 18 332 out-patient visits recorded.”
“During the same period, 713 operations were conducted in the theatre and 1 651 babies were born in the facility. Additionally, 300 patients were admitted with severe mental illness.
“While these projects do not increase the number of beds, it improves the quality of the infrastructure to make it a safer and more positive environment in which to care for patients. This has ensured a beautiful and fit-for-purpose building that has a positive effect on staff morale,” she said.
Western Cape Department of Health MEC Dr Nomafrench Mbombo said: “The addition of an APU and these infrastructure projects will revitalise this important piece of infrastructure. Stellenbosch Hospital services a feeder area of approximately 200 000 people where, as with all areas in the province, the health demands are increasing.”
“During the visit, the impact of load shedding was very apparent. During our previous financial year, approximately R1.6 million was spent on diesel for their generator. As load shedding intensifies, our facilities are forced to divert much-needed resources to mitigate an issue that is external to their operations.
“Nonetheless, our dedicated staff and management are ensuring that the hospital continues to deliver quality healthcare for our residents,” Mbombo said.