Helen Joseph loses a mental ill patient
WESTDENE - Ward 87 Councillor Amanda Forsythe tells of her experiences with a mental ill man who was supposed to be treated in Helen Joseph.
Ward 87 councilor Amanda Forsythe has implemented measures to educate SAPS about the Mental Health Act.
Following Forsythe’s experiences with a mentally ill Ethiopian man who was wondering around Melville’s 7th street, Forsythe was disappointed by the level of negligence in Helen Joseph.
Forsythe informed that she went the extra mile, and asked Warrant Officer Smal from Brixton SAPS to help get the man to hospital to get the treatment he needed.
“Most of the members of the SAPS that I have encountered are unaware of the Mental Health Act and their obligations to assist the mentally ill according to section 40 of the Act… I explained the protocol to W/O Smal and he was pleasantly surprised to find that when he got to the casualties unit of Helen Joseph, they knew exactly what to do and gave him a special form to fill out (Form 22) specifically for suspected mental patients delivered to the hospital by the SAPS,”she said.
She added, “Once the forms were completed, W/O Smal handed the patient over to the hospital staff and left. Thereafter, I received three separate phone calls, the first from a doctor, the second from a psychiatrist and the last from the chief psychiatrist on duty. They all wanted to verify the man’s story and history. They all confirmed that he was definitely unwell and the last two informed me that they believed he was psychotic and would be admitted to the psychiatric unit of the hospital so that he could be observed, stabilised and hopefully, referred on to a psychiatric hospital.”
Forsythe explained that she received a call from one of the businesses on 7th Street to inform her that the man was back on the streets.
“The man was on 7th Street – he just sat there in a daze as thousands of people walked past him – I didn’t know at the time that he had been medicated at Helen Joseph and that it was dangerous for him to be anywhere but a hospital in this state.”
Forsythe managed to get one of the Brixton SAPS vehicles to collect him again and take him back to Helen Joseph, later on the man was back on the streets again.
Training has recently been provided for SAPS to improve attitudes and communication with mentally ill people.
“I was hoping that by organising this Mental Health Act training for the SAPS that it would assist us in getting the assistance we need from SAPS to help the mentally ill… it appears that we now need to work on the quality of service and security at public hospitals,” said Forsythe.
The communication liaison officer of Helen Joseph Hospital, Patricia Mokwoena, was contacted for comment. However, since personal details of the patient in question are unknown/ unavailable, she was unfortunately not in a position to provide comment.
