Fort Napier is situated in Pietermaritzburg approximately 4km away from the city center, in ward 26.
The grounds cover 90 hectares of land of which 25 hectares is unused.
The Fort was named after General Sir George Napier, who was the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1838 to 1844. 
A primitive Fort was erected in 1843 and troops occupied Fort Napier until 1914.
In the grounds of Fort Napier there are sealed underground tunnels,e.g. one which links Fort Napier to the Pietermaritzburg railway station.
In 1918 Fort Napier was handed over to the government of the time for use as a Mental hospital.
In 1927 the hospital was opened by Dr. Willis, the hospital’s first Superintendent. The first patients arrived in 1928
Fort Napier Hospital also forms part of an academic and service component.
Doctors, psychologists and nurses, while on training, rotate between the three hospitals,
Townhill, Umngeni and Fort Napier during their respective study programs.
Fort Napier Hospital provides a specialist forensic psychiatric service. The forensic block was opened in 1993.
The Department of Justice, through the courts of law, refers awaiting trial offenders to Fort Napier Hospital
for observation and assessment of their mental state and capacity to stand trial.
Based on these specialist reports the courts can declare the offender as a state patient whereupon they will be admitted to Fort Napier Hospital.
Fort Napier Hospital has a multidisciplinary approach in rehabilitating patients to discharge and reintegrate them back to the community.
To achieve this, the mental healthcare user, according to their ability, attends various programs facilitated by the Occupational Therapy,
Psychology and Social Work departments.
Back to Fort Napier Hospitalhospital
The materials on this website may be copied for non-commercial use as long as our copyright notice and website address are included.
Copyright © KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, 2001