Tower Psychiatric Hospital is a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

-funded

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

and

psychosocial rehabilitation Psychiatric rehabilitation, also known as psych social rehabilitation, and sometimes simplified to psych rehab by providers, is the process of restoration of community functioning and well-being of an individual diagnosed in mental health or emotio ...

Centre in the

Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality is a local municipality of South Africa. It was established after the August 2016 local elections by the merging of Nkonkobe and Nxuba local municipalities. Towns/villages in the municipal area * Fort Beaufort ...

area of

Fort Beaufort Fort Beaufort (Xhosa: iBhofolo) is a town in the Amatole District of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and had a population of 25,668 in 2011. The town was established in 1837 and became a municipality in 1883. The town lies at the confluen ...

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It provides long-term psychiatric care and psychosocial rehabilitation services to the entire Eastern Cape. The hospital has a full-time psychiatrist since December 2015. The hospital departments include a rehabilitation centre,

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

, anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV/AIDS,

laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with t ...

services, and

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

service. In 1894 the colonial government converted the barracks at Fort Beaufort into an asylum for natives only. This asylum admitted both the mentally ill and patients with tuberculosis. It received far less funding than other asylums within the colony. Perhaps the most famous admission was made in 1922, when the prophetess

Nontetha Nkwenkwe Nontetha Nkwenkwe (c. 1875 - May 20, 1935) was a Xhosa prophetess who lived in colonial South Africa and began a religious movement that caused her to be committed to asylums by the South African government from 1923 until her death in 1935. She is ...

was incarcerated here. Today the hospital is situated on new grounds in Fort Beaufort within the Amathole Municipality. The institution serves the entire province of the Eastern Cape, with an estimated population of 6.9 million. It provides medium-to-long-term psychiatric care (approximately 180 days) and psychosocial rehabilitation services. This is a government-funded hospital consisting of 400 beds (344 males, 56 females).

Vision and mission

The vision of the institution is to provide an effective and efficient resource to empower psychiatric patients in the province to attain maximum level of independence, optimal wellbeing and a quality of life in a just society. The mission is to aspire to be a dynamic, well equipped resource in the province, capable of developing patients' life skills and potential, through skills education and training so that patients can be independent citizens capable of managing their own affairs in a rapidly changing society.

Staff

The hospital has a chief executive officer, clinical manager and a hospital board. The multi-disciplinary team consists of nurses, a psychiatrist, two clinical psychologists, two occupational therapists and five social workers. There is an onsite pharmacy run by two full-time pharmacists. The administrative service consists of an onsite human resources department, finance officer and supply chain office. The grounds are maintained by the workshop staff. There is onsite laundry and kitchen services.

Services

In addition to general psychiatric care the Hospital provides psychosocial rehabilitation services. The Rehabilitation Centre is the flagship of the institution. The Centre provides an onsite adult basic education, computer literacy, piggery, carpentry, leather works, garden projects, sewing and art work. The Art Work project jointly runs an exhibition with Fort England Psychiatric Hospital at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. The Centre is embarking on an Independent Livings Project, a move towards the provision of community psychiatric services.

Referral procedure

Patients are referred by other specialised psychiatric hospitals and mental health units from within the province. Referral forms are available from the patient administration office.

Coat of arms

The hospital registered a coat of arms at the

Bureau of Heraldry Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...

in 1970: ''Or, a tower of Fort Beaufort proper, ensigned with an antique lamp Azure enflamed Gules, over all a looped tau cross, Or, between two wings Azure''.http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za The arms were designed by

Ivan Mitford-Barberton Ivan Mitford-Barberton (1896–1976) was a sculptor, writer and authority on heraldry. Early life and education Mitford-Barberton was born in Somerset East, in Cape Colony, in 1896. He was a descendant of several 1820 Settler families. His g ...

and

Cornelis Pama Cornelis Pama (1916 - 1994) was a Dutch bookseller, publisher, heraldist and genealogist, who spent the second half of his life in South Africa. He was born in Rotterdam. During World War II, when the Netherlands were under German occupation, he ...

.Norval, M.S. (1994). '' 'n Beskrywing van die Hospitaal- en Opleidingskoolwapens in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika''.

External links

Tower Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre

References

{{Hospitals in the Eastern Cape Hospitals in the Eastern Cape Psychiatric hospitals in South Africa Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality