Annual admissions to North Carolina state-run psychiatric facilities declined from 3,210 to 875 between fiscal year 2013 and 2025 — a 73% decrease — despite sustained need for care, North Carolina Health News reported Feb. 12.
Three state-run psychiatric hospitals — Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, Central Regional Hospital in Butner and Broughton Hospital in Morganton — collectively care for around 570 patients per day, with an average length of stay exceeding 100 days. The state is operating below capacity amid staffing shortages, while demand for inpatient mental healthcare continues to rise.
Here are six things to know about the state of psychiatric care in North Carolina:
- About 300 of the state’s 901 psychiatric hospital beds are offline each day because of staffing shortages.
- Patients deemed “incapable of proceeding to trial” account for more than one-third of the hospital population. In fiscal year 2025, they made up 36% of admissions, compared to just over 1% in fiscal year 2005.
- As of Jan. 22, 122 individuals deemed incapable of proceeding were waiting for admission. From July to September 2025, the average wait time for capacity restoration admission was 148 days.
- As of November 2025, the three hospitals had 380 healthcare technician vacancies and 314 registered nurse vacancies. Overall vacancy rates have risen from nearly 13% in fiscal year 2015 to about 26% in fiscal year 2025.
- Iryna’s Law, set to take effect in December, will require additional mental health evaluations for arrested individuals to determine involuntary commitment eligibility. The law includes no mental health funding.
- As of September 2025, North Carolina had 3,403 licensed behavioral health beds statewide, with just over a quarter located in three state psychiatric hospitals.
