May 31 2008
Reports hammer mental health care in NC
Cuts to the mental health system endangered lives, two panels conclude, and reforms should be reversed.
RALEIGH - Two panels appointed by the Easley administration to review North Carolina’s mental health system have filed scathing reports that call for reversing bungled reforms implemented during the last seven years, saying deep cuts to hospital beds and treatment have endangered lives.
Among the key recommendations:
* Adding at least 717 full-time employees at state mental hospitals to meet patient-to-staff ratios needed to ensure safety.
* Adding psychiatric treatment beds to both the state hospital system and private facilities.
* Increasing pay to attract and retain qualified staff at the state hospitals.
* Adding trained investigators with law-enforcement experience to review complaints of abuse and neglect at the hospitals.
Reversing bungled reforms is a nice way to say that the party in control of North Carolina totally screwed up the mental healthcare system in North Carolina. Yes the system needed reforms but the way the Democrats went about it was a total SNAFU.
