Cape Town - The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness has expressed concern over the number of suicides and attempted suicides in the province.
The matter was highlighted during a briefing of the standing committee on health on the status of mental health in the province on Friday.
Specialised Hospitals director Carol Dean said there had been a worrying upward trend in suicides, with a clear upswing since April 2020.
From January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021, forensic pathology services recorded 2 188 deaths from suicide in the Western Cape, with the peak number of deaths each year occurring in December.
“Up to 90% of people who have committed suicide also would have had a mental illness. We also know that males complete suicide far more than females, but females attempt it more, so they come to our services more often and there’s a space to intervene,” Dean said.
There had also been an increase in emergency centre cases at district and regional hospitals, and an increase in psychiatric admissions to non-specialised hospitals for patients under 18, with Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha district hospitals seeing the bulk of cases.
District and regional hospitals accommodated people with mental distress, in line with the Mental Health Care Act of 2002. These facilities treated, discharged and/or referred patients to the next level of care (psychiatric hospitals, the Department of Social Development, or non-profit organisations such as substance rehabilitation facilities).
“The challenges are well known. Patients stay longer than we would like them to stay at a district hospital because there are also limited beds at a next level – the psychiatric hospital.
“We don’t have sufficient spaces in the community for older persons, children, and people who don’t have families, and we see growing problems around homelessness. So it is clear that everything is so interconnected,” Dean said.
“The pressure is huge and unrelenting, and another issue is infrastructure. Our hospitals, even psychiatric hospitals, were not built with this legislation in mind, and the profile of our patients has changed given the increase in substance abuse in our communities.”
Psychiatric admissions from 2018 to 2022 were on an upward trajectory. The Western Cape had the highest 12-month and lifetime prevalence of mental health in South Africa at 39%. Anxiety disorders stood at 19%, while mood disorders were at 14%, and substance-use disorders at 21%.
Less than one in four people sought assistance for mental health issues.
Dean said the head of department acknowledged R500 million was required for mental health services.
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted not only on the mental health status of individuals, but also on the community’s mental health.
Mbombo said the bulk of mental health patients were not institutionalised, but outpatients.
There were three psychiatric hospitals (Lentegeur, Stikland, and Valkenberg), all of which were in the metro. Previously, the department had added Alexandra Hospital to the list of psychiatric facilities, meaning there were now 1 804 beds for people struggling with mental health issues.
Amid a provincial bed shortage, the department was currently conducting an audit of vacant wards at Lentegeur Hospital.