Executives from six of New Hampshire's largest health systems on Monday signed a letter to Gov. Chris Sununu to express the "deep concerns" they share regarding the state's limited access to mental health services, reports the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The letter specifically cites the backlog of patients in emergency rooms who are waiting to be admitted to the state's psychiatric hospital, according to the report.
"Given the state's insufficient investments in additional bed capacity at New Hampshire Hospital, our emergency departments have become a boarding place for behavioral health patients in acute crisis," states the letter from Travis Harker, MD, CMO at Concord-based Granite Health, a collaborative involving Manchester-based Catholic Medical Center, Concord (N.H.) Hospital, Franklin-based LRG Healthcare, Nashua-based Southern NH Health, Exeter (N.H.) Hospital and Dover-based Wentworth-Douglas Hospital.
In addition to expanding the bed count at New Hampshire Hospital, the letter recommends adding mobile crisis units, improving training and retaining of psychiatric providers and establishing new incentives for private investment in "designated receiving facilities" — licensed mental health beds outside of New Hampshire Hospital — according to the report.
The state Senate held a public hearing April 25 on a bill that would add more community mental health beds as a means to alleviate capacity pressure on New Hampshire Hospital and local emergency rooms. It also includes funding for a new mobile crisis unit and additional beds at designated receiving facilities. The state hospital recently added 10 beds, but the expansion has not helped ease the backlog of psychiatric patients waiting in hospital ERs, which has exceeded 50 patients across the state, according to the report.