Alabama will shut down most of its mental health hospitals by early 2013.
ATLANTA — Alabama will shut down most of its mental health hospitals by the spring of 2013 in a sweeping plan to cut costs and change how the state’s psychiatric patients receive treatment, state officials announced on Wednesday.
The decision to close four hospitals and lay off 948 employees is a bleak reminder of Alabama’s shrinking budget. But it is also the latest example in a longstanding national effort among states to relocate mentally ill patients from government hospitals to small group homes and private hospitals.
Mental health advocates believe patients often get better care in smaller, less isolating facilities. Since the 1990s, Alabama has closed 10 other mental health treatment centers.
“What’s unusual is how many hospitals in Alabama are being closed so fast,” said Bob Carolla, a spokesman for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “The trend has been to downsize much more gradually.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/us/alabama-plans-to-shut-most-mental-hospitals.html?_r=1&ref=health
Sadly, the Community Mental Health centers which are expected to to handle the patients, are also facing budget cuts.
Exact scenario happened in the 70's, when many state hospitals were closed, and patients ended up with few resources.
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Yet another example of the grinding, relentless national suicide of America, all done with unflagging resolve and a 'gospel of wealth' chorus.
While larger, in-patient facilities are being phased out, community-based outpatient care centers provide effective treatment in many cases.
Strictly a layman's point of view, yet I've a brother who's accessed care, both in-patient and out-patient. In his situation, consistent out-patient care and his participation in his care has precluded the need for in-patient treatment.
What's really troubling about any decline in community based mental health care is that it leads to the *least effective* alternative - access to care via incarceration in city and county jails.
That sort of short term, crisis oriented approach rarely benefits anyone, the community or the person with a chronic mental health condition. I see the need in "harm to self or others" situations, yet again, many of those instances can be precluded by on-going, effective out-patient care.
And the hold is still used when needed. Yet, as you say, assessment is erratic depending on the situation.
I think the systemic problem is consistency and coordination among the different agencies apt to be involved. And coordination with longer term care and treatment.
