The reconstruction of the psychiatric building in Liberec will last until the end of the year

Liberec - The reconstruction of the psychiatric building at the Liberec hospital in Husova Street is about three months delayed and will be more expensive. The cost will exceed one hundred million crowns. The work should be finished by the end of November this year, and then the building will need to be equipped. "We expect to open in January 2021," said the head of the hospital's Psychiatry Center, Jaromír Hons, to reporters today.

The hospital has received a European grant for the modernization of care for people with mental disorders. It has already renovated the building of the former lung department for psychiatric needs and has been modernizing the original site of psychiatry, Building E, since last year. "The original budget for both buildings was 148 million crowns. We believe we will stay within 160 million," said the hospital spokesman Václav Řičář. The increased costs are due to the worse condition of Building E than expected. It is a building constructed in 1895. "The statics had to be redesigned, and there were many other requirements," said Tomáš Martenek, head of the hospital's investment department. Delays are also due to restrictions related to the coronavirus. "There is a lack of workforce," added the hospital spokesman.

The modernization of Building E will improve care and comfort for patients. They will no longer be in larger numbers in rooms that also lacked sanitary facilities. An intensive care unit will be created on the ground floor with a capacity of 16 places, with rooms being double and two single. "Patients in acute phases of mental illness will be admitted there," said Hons. A rehabilitation station with 22 places will be on the first floor. Again, it will mainly consist of double rooms, but there will also be two single rooms. "Patients will be in great comfort and a lot of intimacy, so they can undergo treatment according to the standards of modern care, which is being promoted and is already completely common in Western Europe," said Hons.

Patients preparing for discharge from the closed ward will be treated at the rehabilitation station, as well as mentally ill individuals who do not need intensive care. According to Hons, the reconstruction of the building will allow the use of the attic space, which has not been possible until now. Staff will have facilities there, and there will also be therapeutic rooms.

Temporarily, psychiatry provides acute care in the dermatology department, where 20 beds are available. "It is a temporary solution; the rooms are triple to quadruple. This makeshift situation poses certain problems for us, but we are capable of providing care safely. And we all look forward to the new one," added Hons.

About 700 people are hospitalized annually in psychiatry in Liberec, and another 5,000 people are examined in outpatient clinics. According to Hons, they now have patients whose condition worsened due to measures related to the coronavirus. "However, the number of hospitalizations is the same," he said. The most common cases are mood disorders, psychotic states, various addictions, and organic disorders.