Tower Psychiatric Hospital
Tower Psychiatric Hospital is a government-funded psychiatric hospital and psychosocial rehabilitation Centre in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality area of Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape in South Africa. 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, anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS, laundry services, and kitchen 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 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 and psychosocial rehabilitation services. This is a government-funded hospital consisting of 400 beds.
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.