Richard Maiberger, MD, former chair of the psychiatric department at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, has come forward to plead that the hospital not close its inpatient psychiatric ward, SFGate reported Dec. 17.
Dr. Maiberger made his statement at a public hearing for the state's Office of Health Strategy, where Nuvance Health, which owns Norwalk Hospital, applied to end inpatient mental healthcare. He was chair from 2003 to 2007 and spent most of his career working in the hospital's psychiatric unit.
The application proposes having intensive outpatient psychiatric care instead, according to the publication. Patients in need of inpatient mental healthcare will be referred to Danbury (Conn.) Hospital, also owned by Nuvance Health.
Dr. Maiberger said in his statement that sending local residents to another facility would disrupt access to care, according to SFGate.
"Any one of them I took care of over years, they'd stay in the local community," Dr. Maiberger said. "They’d be much better off there instead of going up to Danbury where it's outside of the community."
Closing the unit is part of the hospital's $220 million expansion and modernization project.
Charles Herrick, MD, current psychiatric chair for Nuvance Health, said at the hearing that the ward has been underperforming with fewer patients over the past several years, according to the publication.
"The current average volume is seven to eight patients and historically hovered around nine to 10 for the last 15 years, because patients can access other services in the area," Dr. Herrick said.