The Washington Post (1/23, Khazan) reports on an “increasingly common” problem for psychiatric patients nationwide, where mental health patients are “boarded” in hospital emergency departments “in part because of cutbacks in inpatient hospital beds.” The Post explains, “As states trimmed their budgets in the economic downturn, resources for mental health patients were among the casualties.” The piece notes, “For many patients suffering from psychiatric crises, this translates to longer waits in emergency departments, where they receive no treatment for days – and sometimes weeks – while social workers try to chase down open spots in psychiatric wards, doctors said.”
Related Links:
— “Psychiatric patients wait in ERs for days and weeks as inpatient beds are scaled back, “Olga Khazan, The Washington Post, January 22, 2013.