WESTON PSYCH HOSPITAL OVERCROWDED, RIDDLED WITH PROBLEMS

(09/24/2010)

William R. Sharpe Hospital in Weston, one of the Mountain State's two psychiatric hospitals, is straining to provide care, according to a recent evaluation. One of the big problems is an increase in patients from the criminal justice system, The influx is straining the hospital's ability to provide care, said a court-appointed monitor. The report says the forensic population at the Weston hospital is above 120 patients, well above levels in the early 1990s. The report says the number of people committed who have committed serious crimes has reduced the hospital's ability to focus on its original mission of providing acute psychiatric care. The report says the state should be given 90 days to eliminate overcrowding and that the hospital come up with a plan for isolating forensic patients. Overcrowding has forced the hospital to use visiting rooms and other space for bedrooms. "Patients occasionally urinate on the floor because they don't have access to a bathroom when over-bedding occurs," says the report. It also said patient telephones frequently don't work, the food quality is poor and staff lack the time to take patients to appointments, shopping or to the hospital's library.

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