Worcester City Council opposes UMass psych bed plan

UMass Memorial Health Care has notified the state of plans to reduce the number of beds in its 28-bed inpatient acute psychiatric unit on the university campus in Worcester to make way for additional medical-surgical beds.

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By Grant Welker

The Worcester City Council unanimously voted to oppose UMass Memorial Medical Center's plan to reduce its number of psychiatric-unit beds.

UMass Memorial Health Care wants to reduce the number of beds in its inpatient acute psychiatric unit from 28 to 13 to make way for additional medical-surgical beds in the hospital's 8 East unit.

Councilor Sarai Rivera led the argument from city officials against the plan. She portrayed the plan as affecting the most vulnerable members of our community.

"Why is it that we're so willing to kind of sacrifice people who are suffering from [mental] illness?" Rivera said, adding, if approved, the plan could increase homelessness and strain some city services.

Mayor Joseph Petty called UMass a good partner with the city on health care but urged it to reconsider.

"Mental health care is in crisis in this city, in this state and in this country," Petty said."This [would have a] huge impact in the short term, right here in Worcester."

The council voted unanimously to oppose the plan after several current and former UMass nurses and several other mental-health specialists spoke out against it.

"I'm horrified, frankly, about what's going to happen to them if UMass is able to go forward with the closure of these beds," said one nurse, Lisa Goss of Princeton.

The state Department of Public Health is scheduled to hold a hearing in Worcester on March 30 on the proposal.

Hospital spokesman Anthony Berry released a statement after the council hearing.

"The UMass Memorial Medical Center leadership team has spent nearly two years of thoughtful planning, research and analysis and is convinced that this plan is not only the best course of action, but is also the right thing to do," he said. "These changes address critical hospital capacity issues and are in the best interest of our behavioral health and medical/surgical patients."

Berry said earlier this year that additional medical-surgical beds are needed to serve the growing needs of the community. A certain number of psychiatric beds will be maintained for patients with the most complex behavioral health needs, he said

If approved, construction would begin in July, but no changes will take place until then. The project would last about a year, the hospital has said.