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Seattle lawmakers approve plan to fix mental health system
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
mental health weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7583
pISSN - 1058-1103
DOI - 10.1002/mhw.31900
Subject(s) - legislature , legislation , mental health , economic shortage , state (computer science) , work (physics) , public administration , state legislature , plan (archaeology) , capital (architecture) , health care , session (web analytics) , political science , mental health care , business , medicine , law , psychiatry , engineering , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , algorithm , government (linguistics) , computer science , advertising , mechanical engineering
Washington legislators took substantial steps to reshape the mental health system, including funding for new facilities, legislation to increase the number of qualified workers and the creation of new types of treatment centers, The Seattle Times reported. Lawmakers approved the plan — which sprawls across two different state budgets, as well as several other bills — in the legislative session that ended April 28. The work comes after years of court orders and federal inspections that meticulously documented the poor treatment of psychiatric patients in the state's care, as well as a steep shortage of treatment beds and staffers to operate them. “The 2019–21 capital‐construction budget spends roughly $33 million for predesign and design of a new behavioral health teaching hospital at the University of Washington. The facility would train mental health professionals while also providing as many as 150 treatment beds.