About / Psychiatric Hospital Bohnice

Psychiatric Hospital  Prague- Bohnice

The psychiatric therapeutic institution originated in Bohnice by the decision of the administration of Austria-Hungary (the Country Committee of the Czech Kingdom) in 1903. And in 1904 already the first patients were brought to the building of the former estate. The institute was a branch of the Psychiatric Therapeutic Institution in Prague (1844). In 1909 it gained legal subjectivity, at that time it had 300 patients. By the First World War it had 1774 beds, its own water mains, electric power station, bakery, kitchen, workshops. In the course of the First World War only the church was built. By 1924 the institution was practically completed, including the sanatorium for rich patients. In 1925 the institution had 1986 beds and 950 employees.   

Beginning from 1937 insulin comas were performed, after the war electric shocks and lobotomy. Till the fifties a very considerable share of the patients were formed by progressive paralysis (tertiary lues), the most frequent cause of death was lung tuberculosis. In 1950 the decision was made about the liquidation of the institution and its change into a military basis, but the hospital was reduced to one half only. During 1956 - 64 the army left gradually the majority of the institution, in one of the pavilions it stayed till 1991. Headed by the Director Dobíšek (1952- 1971) and due to the influence of modern methods, especially of pharmacotherapy and improvement of education and organization a considerable progress occurred.

       The therapeutic institution is located in a park of the area of 64 hectares, it performs agricultural management on the area of further 144 hectares (originally about 240 hectares of fields and gardens and forests belonged to it). In the area there are 88 masonry buildings, including flat buildings and farm buildings. From the 36 pavilions intended for the stay of the patients one, devastated by the army, has not been made use of so far, one is before reconstruction, in two pavilions there is the seat of the research institution Prague Psychiatric center (since 1961). The Psychiatric Therapeutic Institution Bohnice (PLB) is also the clinical basis of the Institute for further education of medical doctors (since 1955).

In the long term the whole area suffers from lack of investment and partially also operating means. Only 4 buildings are completely reconstructed, they have small rooms and lifts, some buildings are reconstructed partially, the others are in quite a bad condition.

       Independent psychiatric hospitals in the Czech Republic have 10 000 beds which is about 83% of all psychiatric beds, from it about 600 are the beds of somatic care (internal, lung, neurological). In the Czech Republic there are about 1200 qualified psychiatrists, about one half working in the ambulances.

According to the contract with the health insurance companies the full capacity of PLB is 1427 beds and it has 1020 employees (95 medical doctors, 415 nurses, 240 lower-level health care workers and 252 of the others). PLB is divided into 37 departments in 13 head physicians sections. Apart from that, PLB has the central admission department and a specialized centralized department of rehabilitation and re-socialization with a number of different workshops, both centralized and in the individual pavilions, at the estate we have hippo-therapy. There are 180 beds for short-term hospitalization apart from addictologists and gerontopsychiatrists, for acute restlessness 30 beds, women's alcoholic treatment beds 82, men's alcoholic treatment beds 110. Outside gerontopsychiatry there are 290 chronic patients, acute gerontopsychiatric care - up to 60 days (102), chronic gerontopsychiatry (252), protective treatment ordered by the court 60 (alcoholic and toxicomania treatment, psychiatric and sexuological treatment). The pediatric department has 44 beds. The share of occupied beds in the last year is 96% (!).

A permanent problem is the insufficient capacity of community subsequent care (after-treatment and re-socialization extramural facility, protected residence, social care institutions and special pensioners' homes). About 270 patients of PLB wait for pensioners' homes (social care). The capacity of standard ambulant psychiatric care in the Czech Republic is well developed.

The therapeutic institution organizes or acts as the host of a large number of cultural and sports events, it has its own theatre (1932), a library.

PLB has its own internal department (125), a biochemical and hematological laboratory, X-ray department, stomatologists, a gynecologist, neurologist, part-time dermatologist and ophthalmologist, the other services are ensured by consultations from the Bulovka hospital that is in the distance of 4 km.

The structure of diagnoses is as follows: 27% schizophrenia and the diseases of the schizophrenic type, 27 % dependencies on alcohol and other habit-forming substances, 22% dementia and disorders on organic basis, 7% affective disorders, neurotic and stress disorders  7%, the others 10%.

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