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State to close Taunton facility for mentally ill

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January 25, 2012|By David Abel

After more than 150 years of housing mentally ill patients, Taunton State Hospital will close its doors, and its remaining patients will be sent to other facilities by the end of the year, state officials said yesterday.

The closing will help pay for a new hospital for the mentally ill in Worcester, which is scheduled to open this summer and may house some of the 169 patients still in Taunton, state mental health officials said.

Other patients will move into their own apartments or the equivalent of group homes linked to an array of support services, under the state’s Community First program, the officials said.

“We understand that this announcement will impact the community of Taunton,’’ Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement. “By closing the Taunton facility, we are maintaining this administration’s commitment to Community First.’’

But advocates for the mentally ill and officials from the nurses union decried the closing of the hospital. They pointed out that it is one of six remaining state mental health hospitals and that the system would have a net loss of 125 beds since fiscal 2010, when the state closed Westborough State Hospital.

“This is a cold-hearted and dangerous decision that will have devastating consequences for the mentally ill in our state,’’ said Karen Coughlin, a nurse at Taunton State and vice president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. “There are not and have not been enough beds or services in the system for years. This decision will only exacerbate a long-standing crisis.’’

State officials said 124 of the beds will be transferred to the new Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital and 25 will be moved to Tewksbury State Hospital.

After the closing, 626 beds will remain in the state mental health system, down from 831 beds in fiscal 2007, state officials and advocates said.

Mental Health Commissioner Barbara Leadholm, who has seen her agency’s budget cut by about 8 percent over the past three years, said many of the patients who have been discharged as a result of fewer beds available are now living independently, with support or supervision in the community.

Many of the patients remaining at what in 1854 opened as the State Lunatic Hospital would probably have been discharged before the end of the year, Leadholm said. On average, 70 percent of state mental health patients are released within 180 days, she said.

“We’re maintaining the same capacity to meet the needs of people who require very intensive services,’’ she said.

Leadholm said that none of the 390 full-time employees in Taunton will lose their jobs and that the department will offer them positions at the new hospital in Worcester or others.