Portsmouth and Derry, NH — Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Parkland Medical Center are increasing their involuntary inpatient bed count in each facility’s Behavioral Health Unit effective immediately. This increase is in response to New Hampshire’s critical need to address the number of patients in hospital emergency departments waiting for treatment in a psychiatric setting.
Portsmouth Regional Hospital increased its bed count by four to a total of 16 involuntary inpatient psychiatric beds in its 30-bed unit. Parkland Medical Center added four involuntary inpatient beds in its 18-bed unit.
Emergency Rooms in the state of New Hampshire are continuing to deal with prolonged wait times for some of the state’s most vulnerable and acute patients. These wait times are due to limited bed availability throughout the state.
“Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Parkland Medical Center have consistently been committed to providing access to inpatient mental health and given the current crisis in the state of New Hampshire, we felt compelled to step up for the benefit of our state’s residents,” stated Dean Carucci, CEO of Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Jeff Scionti, CEO of Parkland Medical Center.
“Providing real solutions to the mental health crisis has been a priority of my administration since day one," said Governor Chris Sununu. "We have made huge strides so far and these additional beds are yet another step forward in our goal to make N.H. the gold standard for community based mental health services. A big thanks to Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Parkland Medical Center for their combined efforts in this challenge.”
“New Hampshire residents have for too long been forced to wait to receive critical mental health services when in acute psychiatric crisis due to insufficient capacity across the state’s mental health system,” said Steve Ahnen, President of the New Hampshire Hospital Association. “We applaud Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Parkland Medical Center for their efforts to add these eight additional involuntary inpatient beds (DRF), which were made possible by the recent adoption of the state budget. These new beds are another important step in helping to address the issue of patients waiting in emergency departments for appropriate mental health treatment.”
In addition to providing critical inpatient behavioral health services, both Portsmouth and Parkland hospitals provide adult Partial Hospitalization Programs that serve patients in an outpatient setting who may benefit from intensive behavioral health support and psychiatric intervention. Both Portsmouth and Parkland hospitals also have a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week crisis and referral phone line at (603) 433-5270.