Tag: Psychiatric Hospitals

VA Center Inpatient Psychiatric Unit Closes

The Martinsburg VA Medical Center says its inpatient psychiatric unit will be temporarily closed starting Monday.

The Journal reports the center made the announcement Wednesday.

VAMC spokesman Mike McAleer says the closure is due to staff losses stemming from retirements, people changing jobs and other circumstances.

He says the center will be closed for no longer than nine months, but it could be shorter.

The unit holds 19 beds and sees an average of 15 patients per day.

McAleer says in the meantime, patients will be transferred within the VA network to provide services for them.

He says the center is developing a new model to help improve the unit, how to manage it and evaluate staffing levels.

The center plans to hire additional staff as soon as possible.

U.S. Attorney Urges Reversal on Children's Treatment Center

A federal prosecutor is urging West Virginia to rescind its approval of a proposed children’s psychiatric hospital in Logan.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld objected to the 70-bed facility in an Oct. 13 letter to Karen Bowling, the state health and human resources secretary.

In June, the U.S. Department of Justice criticized the state for too often placing children in institutions rather than in home-based services.

Health department spokeswoman Sarah Lieu said Bowling approved the facility so children being treated in out-of-state facilities can be returned to West Virginia. But Ihlenfeld wrote that the out-of-state facilities are closer to home for some children than the proposed Logan treatment center. He also said there has been a lack of transparency in the planning stage.

Plan Ordered for W.Va. Psychiatric Hospital Issues

The Department of Health and Human Resources is facing a June 11 deadline to come up with a plan to address issues at the state’s two psychiatric hospitals.
 
These issues include staffing shortages and noncompetitive wages for workers.
 
The Charleston Gazette reports that Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Louis “Duke” Bloom ordered the plan on Tuesday. Bloom said the court might develop its own plan if the DHHR doesn’t submit one.

As of March 30, there were 48 vacant positions at William R. Sharpe Hospital in Weston and 41 vacancies at Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington.
 
Both hospitals also lack critical-care staff that put them in violation of state code.
 
Bloom’s order came in a case originally filed in 1981 that dealt with the treatment of mental health patients.
 
 

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