A broad range of recommendations are being considered as the Mental Health Task Force begins work on the recommendations to reduce the abuse and neglect of mental patients and to better investigate cases that do occur. Recommendations include; pursuing national accreditation of the state’s six habilitation centers, creating the equivalent of the Child Fatality Review Board to review all deaths of adult mental patients, making public the non-confidential aspects of abuse investigations and improving the recruitment, hiring and retention of Mental Health Department staff. Task Force member, Natalie Woods, wants the final report to shy from recommendations to downsize habilitation centers, which she insists runs counter to a commitment to provide choices for mental health care. Task Force member Steve Renne with the Social Services Department says open records have benefited his department and will benefit the Mental Health Department. He says closed records create suspicions. The task force hopes to have final recommendations to the governor by the end of next month.
Related web sites:
Mental Health Task Force