Members – See the following announcement from Lesia Dipman, Larned State Hospital Superintendent, regarding a reduction in bed capacity to 62 from December’s 72 beds, effective immediately.
The Psychiatric Services Program at Larned State Hospital is managing admissions for court ordered patients under the authority of a managed moratorium notification provided to the Kansas Supreme Court in May 2020. LSH is working to keep the hospital open to admissions while responding to COVID positive patients requiring separate isolation units, additional patients requiring 1 on 1 or 2 to 1 supervision, COVID-19 positive staff off work due to isolation, staff working mandated overtime and required hold over hours to cover staff vacancies. The hospital is experiencing staffing shortage due to vacancies, reduced availably of contract staff, patient acuity and COVID protocols, which require that the patient census be limited to maintain safety for staff and patients as well as providing meaningful treatment for people in acute mental health crisis.
As of January 6, 2022, LSH is maintaining a bed capacity of 62 of the available 90 beds. The census before the surge in COVID cases at the end of December was 72 patients. When the census reached 72, a waiting list was started. Since December 30, when staffing reached a critical level for safety, admissions were restricted in response to critically low staffing and patients approved for admission were placed on a waiting list.
The admissions protocol will be to admit new patients equal to the number of patients discharged each day. That will last until staffing reaches a safe level. As more staff becomes available, LSH will increase the available bed capacity and revaluate admitting only based on discharges. Patients on the waiting list will be admitted in the order they were placed on the wait list.