This powerful Globe "Spotlight Team" report details the complete failure of the Massachusetts mental health system following half a century of deinstitutionization. The series highlights the shortage of psychiatric beds to treat these patients, as well as the growing problem of patients being boarded — sometimes for weeks — as they wait for appropriate care. In response, the MNA filed legislation this year to create a special unit to provide care to patients boarding in our hospital emergency departments, as well as special units to provide appropriate care to very acutely ill, “difficult to manage” patients. In keeping with the Globe’s findings, these measures have yet to be acted on.
We encourage anyone who cares about mental health care and our state’s anemic response to this crisis to read this heart breaking story. Our nurse members have spent years advocating for improved services to address this crisis and we greatly appreciate the Globe’s attention to this issue.
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