PORTSMOUTH, Va (WAVY) — As more Virginians face mental health struggles, Jessica Huffman with NAMI Coastal Virginia applauds a new dashboard from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
“We still often get calls of people not being able to find support and services,” Huffam told 10 On Your Side.
The dashboard shows the number of patients receiving in-hospital psychiatric care in the commonwealth.
“We hope that it will help inform the conversation,” said VHHA Vice President of Communications Julian Walker.
Walker said the information is timely, as Virginia Legislators are likely to take on more mental health care reform in the next session.
“It is important to understand the volume of hospitalizations we are seeing and what the data clearly tells us is there are several challenges that are occurring simultaneously,” he told WAVY.
The shortage of psychiatrists and mental healthcare workers is one along with an increase in the need for mental health services and a split in how and where people get that care.
The data shows private hospitals have admitted around 90 percent of all behavioral health inpatients. This includes voluntary patients and court-ordered TDO patients. State-run hospitals have seen about 10%, all of whom are TDO patients.
“I hope you know, always the hope, that policymakers, lawmakers individuals that are able to make the change immediately kind of, can critically think about it and see wow this is a real thing happening these are real numbers,” Huffman said.
She and Walker both say Virginia needs creative solutions including inpatient and community services.
