The Cape Town Psychiatric service.

A comprehensive psychiatric service for the city of Cape Town and a large rural catchment area in the southern and central Cape Province is described to show how the psychiatric facilities and services of the Department of Health, the Cape Provincial Administration and the University of Cape Town function together as an effective, co-ordinated whole. The principles on which this is based are described, namely, planning on the basis of what one multidisciplinary team can achieve, the development of specialized therapeutic units at different hospitals, and co-ordination of clinical activities by the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Cape Town. Emphasis is placed on community psychiatry. The different units and their functions are described, as well as teaching and research activities.