By Sherry Jacobson, The Dallas Morning News
Jul. 4–Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas quietly closed its inpatient psychiatric unit last week, eliminating nine beds reserved for mental-health patients.
“The decision to close this unit was not made lightly,” said a statement released Thursday by Baylor officials.
Advocates for mental-health patients say the loss of Baylor’s psychiatric unit will exacerbate an already serious shortage of psychiatric hospital beds in the region and state.
However, Baylor spokeswoman Maria Carpenter noted that the nine-bed psychiatric unit had been “underutilized,” perhaps because of the growth of specialty psychiatric hospitals.
The unit was averaging about three patients a day because such patients often were transferred from Baylor to other psychiatric facilities after a day or so, said Dr. Irving Prengler, Baylor’s vice president of medical affairs.
“We’ve been shifting away from inpatient [psychiatric] care in recent years,” he said.
The psychiatric unit was closed after the last patient was discharged last week. No employees lost their jobs as a result, Ms. Carpenter said.
Baylor officials said the closure was not announced because they did not consider it newsworthy.
Teams from other psychiatric facilities are evaluating psychiatric patients who show up in Baylor’s emergency room and are deciding where to send them. Psychiatrists who had hospitalized their patients at Baylor were told to send them elsewhere.
The unit’s closure was news this week to many people who work in Dallas’ mental health community.
“We’ve heard nothing about it,” said Josh Floren, a senior vice president who oversees Parkland Memorial Hospital’s medical services, including its busy 18-bed psychiatric unit.
“We operate at about 75 percent occupancy, so we should be able absorb their volume,” he said of the former Baylor patients. “We’re one of the few places in Dallas that can handle the medical needs of psychiatric patients.”
In an average month, Parkland’s psychiatric unit accommodates 50 to 60 patients for eight-to-10-day stays. Most are elderly Medicare patients who suffer severe psychosis, schizophrenia or other psychiatric conditions, and must be brought to the hospital by police escort.
John Dornheim, a spokesman for the Dallas branch of the National Alliance of Mental Illness, a mental-health advocacy group, said the loss of Baylor’s beds would be felt widely.
“Nine beds doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you’re one of those nine patients, it is,” he said. “We know we’re way short on beds already, and that just makes it more difficult.”
Mr. Dornheim said Dallas County has about 400 psychiatric beds and needs at least 100 more.
The shortage of psychiatric hospital beds creates a backlog of patients needing care, Mr. Dornheim said. He added that people with serious illness could end up with outpatient care when hospitalization is needed.
Jeanine Hayes, a mental-health advocate who works with several organizations, said she received treatment for depression at Baylor’s psychiatric ward in 1993.
“We have such problems finding and getting mental-health services,” Ms. Hayes said, adding that Texas ranks 48th in the nation for spending on public mental health services. “I think it’s a real loss for the community.”
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